Police are requesting an additional 600 million kronor from the government to manage border checks.
The border controls were broadly criticized in last year's Schengen report on the functioning of the common border area. Insufficient staff, organisation and competence were all mentioned in the report.
Earlier this year, news agency TT reported that border staff with police in the Stockholm region had alerted the Ministry of Justice as to the seriousness of the situation.
In order to meet the demands set in the Schengen report, workforce at border crossing points must be expanded, the Swedish Police Authority (Polismyndigheten) writes in its annual budget assessment, presented to the government.
Investment in education, equipment and facilities is also requested, while IT systems must be improved, the authority said as it sought an additional 600 million kronor over three years for border controls.
When the additional costs will arise or when the various improvements will be undertaken is currently unclear, but investment of 100 million kronor is required for 2020, followed by 200 million kronor in 2021 and 300 million kronor in 2022, according to the police preliminary assessment.
In order to meet an overall target of an extra 10,000 police employees by 2024, the authority has asked for financial backing corresponding to that received in the period up to and including 2021. That amounts to an additional 1.3 billion kronor.
“The police has just submitted its budget request. We will, of course, analyse it. It is currently too early to comment on how the government’s budget will look. We will return to that,” Minister for Home Affairs Mikael Damberg told TT.
“However, the government has been clear – the police must have 10,000 more employees by 2024, and this was also stated in the January agreement [providing for the new government, ed.],” Damberg added.
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