“This is enabling legislation”

Olle Lundin, professor of administrative law, submitted his inquiry report to the Government in mid-January. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
How can we reduce organised crime in disadvantaged areas and make them safer? Olle Lundin, professor of administrative law, has been commissioned by the Government to investigate measures to give property owners better prospects for working with each other and other actors. Those who do not want to cooperate should be forced to do so, he says.
Why has this inquiry been carried out?
“This inquiry is a point of the Tidö Agreement, so it is something that the government parties have agreed on. They consider this an important tool in the fight to combat organised crime and increase safety and security in certain problem areas.”
What were the main conclusions you came to?
“What we’re talking about is a phenomenon called place management, with a number of actors with ties to a specific place. Property owners, the police, the municipality, Social Services and residents in the area all come together to collectively identify measures. It all centres around the property owners. They usually pay a fee for this cooperation to gain financial muscle. This enables them to perform measures such as hiring security guards, ensuring the area is kept tidy, and making crime more difficult by having better locking devices on the buildings there, so that the bad guys can’t get into places like the bicycle storage room. They work together to thwart them by all sorts of different means. This type of crime management is used in the USA, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada and probably several other places. But we don't have any special crime management like this in Sweden.
And that’s what the Government wanted. Our proposal is the establishment of crime management in which property owners in a particular area can take the initiative to form a place management association and force property owners to take part if they do not willing choose to join in.
Our inquiry work has shown that there are areas that are very problematic in that some property owners in the area do not want to participate. And then nothing happens. The proposed legislation itself does not involve any compulsion, but rather requires property owners to be the ones to initiate the measure.”
Are you proposing a new law?
“Yes, we are proposing a new law, but in order to be forced to participate in this cooperation, a number of property owners in the area must have decided that they want to start this initiative. So, this is enabling legislation.”
What is it like to be an investigator in an inquiry?
“I think it’s been incredibly fun and a rich learning experience. You get to delve deep into something completely new. I’ve worked very closely with two fantastic inquiry services officers who work at Uppsala University: Patrik Bremdal, an associate professor in constitutional law, and Veronica Gates Carlsson, who currently serves as a lecturer at the Department of Law.
If you are ever asked to be an investigator in an inquiry, I recommend that you say yes, because it is very stimulating and instructive.”
Åsa Malmberg