Sweden - April 2024

On 10 April, Parliament approved an amendment to the Police Act, allowing the police to create so-called “Security zones.”  The security zones are temporary, geographically limited areas in which the police are allowed to conduct a body search or search a vehicle without concrete suspicion of crime. The decision to search a person or vehicle could instead be based on certain risk profiles, such as wearing clothing brands that are associated with gangs. The law's purpose is to make it easier for the police to find weapons or explosives and to combat rising gang violence. The law has been heavily criticized including by the Equality Ombudsman (DO) and the Swedish Institute for Human Rights, which each expressed strong concerns that the law can lead to ethnic profiling, that it is too extensive in terms of the power it gives the police, and that there is a risk of arbitrary use. The law entered into force on 25 April. 

Sources: The Equality Ombudsman, Institute for Human Rights, the Swedish Government, Svt Nyheter (1), Svt Nyheter (2), the Police Act