Do-it-yourself crime investigation

Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 3:09 | Posted in Alcohol, crime, social, Sweden | 1 Comment

The mother of a 14 year old in Southern Sweden was furious as her son came home heavily intoxicated, Dagens Nyhter writes. I guess every mother would be angry but not everybody would do what this mom did. She had her son call the person who had provided the booze and order another delivery. As the man arrived with the delivery, police officers entered from behind the corner and busted the dealer for illegal sales of alcoholic beverages.

The police in Lund say this was not a case of entrapment to commit a crime which is illegal in Sweden. The police deny any knowledge of the incident before the mother contacted them and say that the patrol was acting to stop a crime in progress. A senior officer described the mother’s action as a contribution by a “citizen investigator”.

This sort of citizen initiative is not uncommon in many places elsewhere but it is almost unprecedented in Sweden. Swedes are not eager to interfere if they witness a crime being committed and they also expect much of parenting to be performed by the society. I wonder if this do-it-yourself crime investigation is an isolated incident or a sign of a new attitude developing among Swedes.

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