The first modern police force in Sweden was established in the mid-1800s. Prior to that, police work was not carried out by a law enforcement agency in the modern sense. In rural areas, the King's bailiffs () were responsible for law and order until the establishment of
counties in the 1630s. In the cities, local governments were responsible for law and order, by way of a royal decree issued by
Magnus III in the 13th century. The cities financed and organised various
watchmen who patrolled the streets. In the late 1500s in Stockholm the patrol duties were in large part taken over by a special corps of salaried
city guards. The city guard was organised, uniformed and armed like a military unit and were responsible for interventions against various crimes and the arrest of suspected criminals. These guards were assisted by the military, fire patrolmen, and a civilian unit that did not wear a uniform, but instead wore a small badge around the neck. The civilian unit monitored compliance with city
ordinances relating to e.g. sanitation issues, traffic and taxes. In 1776,
Gustav III ushered in a fundamental change in how police work was organised in
Stockholm, modelled after how law enforcement was organised in
Paris at the time. The office of Police Commissioner () was created, with the first title holder being
Nils Henric Liljensparre, who was given command of the civilian unit responsible for law and order in the city, now partly financed by the State. The reform was considered a success, as it made the streets safer. However, the system of fire patrolmen and the city guard was still kept intact and administered separately. In the mid-1800s, during a time of widespread social unrest, it became increasingly clear that law enforcement did not function properly. In 1848, the
March Unrest broke out on the streets of Stockholm, inspired by a wave of
revolutions in Europe. Large crowds vandalized the city, shouting slogans of reform and calling for the
abolition of monarchy. King
Oscar I responded with military force, resulting in 30 people being killed. In rural areas, local county administrators () were in charge of law and order, reporting to county governors. The office of '''' was a mixture of police chief, tax official and lower-level prosecutor, who in turn was assisted by a number of part-time police officers (). Increasingly, their time was spent on tax matters, instead of doing actual police work. More police officers were duly employed, some dubbed "extra police", devoted much more exclusively to police work. In 1850, a new type of organisation was finally launched in Stockholm, where the entire police force was placed under one agency. The title of
Police Constable () was used for the first time in Sweden, and the police were also given their own uniforms and were armed with batons and
sabers. The police also began to specialize. In 1853, for example, four constables were put in charge of
criminal investigations, thus creating the first
detective bureau in Sweden. In the early 1900s, the Swedish police had yet to uniformly organise or become regulated in legislation. The system of "extra police" did not work well, partly because it was often a
temporary position lacking
job security, making it difficult to recruit and retain skilled personnel. Subsequently, the
Riksdag adopted the first Police Act in 1925. The act essentially
codified structures already in place, but also introduced a more unified police and better working conditions for the police officers. Officers began wearing the same dark-blue uniforms nationwide, with the same weapons and helmets. Local ties remained strong, however, with 554 small districts that had great freedom to organise police work as before, even though the State now had the power to issue a number of regulations about everything from leadership to the duties of the police. There were still some problems maintaining order when larger crowds gathered, as evidenced by the
Ådalen shootings in 1931, where the military was called in as reinforcement during a violent
labor dispute, killing five. In rural areas, the detective work were also often rudimentary. Accordingly, the Swedish State Police () was established in 1932, which would complement the
municipal police.
Nationalisation The Swedish police continued to be organised under local government control for more than 30 years. The lack of co-ordination made police work difficult on a national level, and ineffective in an increasingly mobile world, which prompted the nationalisation of the Swedish police in 1965. The police became more centralized and now organised under the
Ministry of Justice in three levels. The
National Police Board () was the central administrative authority, primarily tasked with coordinating and supporting the local police. The local police was reduced to 119 districts, led by a District Police Commissioner, answering to a Chief Commissioner at the
County Administrative Board. In 1998, the number of police districts was further reduced and divided along county lines into 21 local police authorities. On 1 January 2015, the police reorganised again into a unified agency, with the Swedish Security Service becoming a fully independent agency; the biggest overhaul of the Swedish police since it was nationalized in 1965. The new authority was created to address shortcomings in the organisation of the division of duties and responsibilities, to reduce differences between police regions, ease governance and increase accountability. The reorganisation is expected to last several years. == Tasks and objectives ==