Vulnerable area

Vulnerable area (Swedish: Utsatt område) is a term applied by the Swedish Police Authority to areas with high crime rates and social exclusion.[1][2][3] They are colloquially known as no-go zones.[4][5] In the December 2015 report, there were 53 vulnerable areas,[6] which increased to 61 in June 2017. The increase is reported to be due to better reporting, not a changing situation.[7] The overall trend is that these areas are improving.[8]

All the areas are situated south of the town of Gävle; however, only 11.4% of Sweden's total population live in the Norrland region, and most are areas constructed during the Million Programme (MP). Although there are towns north of Gävle having MP areas, they do not experience the crime rate of some southern MP areas.[9]

In April 2019, the publication of the list by police was criticised by municipality politicians as it was stigmatising and dissuaded investors. Police responded that they saw no reason to make the list a secret, and that the list served the purpose of providing a uniform basis of evaluating districts across the country. Interior minister Morgan Johansson stated that the list will continue to be public information.[10]

In June 2019, an update was released by police and three vulnerable areas were reclassified risk areas, two vulnerable areas were removed from the list entirely and a previously unclassified area was added as a vulnerable area. Therefore, the total number of categorised areas decreased from 61 in the 2017 report to 60 in the 2019 update.[11]

Work on improving the areas requires cooperation with several parties like local landlords and organisations, but fear of gentrification may cause problems.[12]

In November 2020, Gothenburg municipality announced they would dedicate SEK 11 billion (about €1.05 billion) towards regenerating the six especially vulnerable areas in the Gothenburg area.[13]

  1. ^ Radio, Sveriges (12 June 2017). "Police add eight new "especially vulnerable" areas in Sweden - Sweden's "particularly vulnerable areas" - Radio Sweden". Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 2017-10-18.
  2. ^ "Swedish police name dozens of "vulnerable areas"—but are they "no-go zones"?". Newsweek. 2017-06-21. Retrieved 2017-10-18.
  3. ^ NRK. "Svensk politi: – Vi er i ferd med å miste kontrollen". NRK (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-10-18.
  4. ^ "Förekomsten av no go-zoner (Skriftlig fråga 2017/18:1046 av Boriana Åberg (M))". Sveriges riksdag (in Swedish). 2018-03-15. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  5. ^ Gudmundson, Per (2014-10-28). "55 "no go"-zoner i Sverige". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  6. ^ Utsatta områden - sociala risker, kollektiv förmåga och oönskade händelser. Police in Sweden - Nationella Operativa Avdelningen - December 2015. p. 4.
  7. ^ Polisen. "Polisens rapport om utsatta områden". Polisen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2017-10-18. Antalet områden som bedöms som särskilt utsatta är fler i den här rapporten jämfört med den förra rapporten. – Det beror främst på att vi nu har en fördjupad kunskap om problematiken i dessa områden, snarare än att läget har försämrats sedan förra året, säger Linda Staaf, underrättelsechef på nationella operativa avdelningen som ansvarar för att sammanställa rapporten.
  8. ^ "Läget bättre i utsatta områden". SVT. 2018-06-10. Fler jobbar, inkomsterna är högre, bidragen lägre och färre är helt utanför systemen. /../ Sedan 1997 har exempelvis andelen förvärvsarbetande bland de utrikes födda i stadsdelen Rinkeby ökat från 29 procent till 49 procent 2015. Andelen öppet arbetslösa har samtidigt gått ner, från 18 procent till 15 procent.
  9. ^ Utsatta områden - sociala risker, kollektiv förmåga och oönskade händelser (PDF). Police in Sweden - Nationella Operativa Avdelningen - December 2015. pp. 21, 29. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2016.
  10. ^ Radio, Sveriges (3 April 2019). ""Finns inget skäl att försöka hemlighålla" - Nyheter (Ekot)". Sveriges Radio (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-04-06.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Löfgren, Emma (7 June 2017). "No-go zone? Here's how one of Sweden's roughest areas edged out its drug gangs". The Local.
  13. ^ Netskar, Sofia (2020-11-18). "Satsningen: Elva miljarder kronor till särskilt utsatta områden i Göteborg". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-11-20.