Sweden

The Hate Crime Units in the Stockholm and South Police Regions were expanded. A new unit has been created in the West Region. Each unit consists of about ten employees. All police regions have elaborated action plans for increasing their ability to counteract hate crime.

The Swedish Police have identified and established co-operation with specialized hate crime prosecutors on a regional level. At the national level, co-operation takes place with the Prosecution Development Centre in Malmö, and has included joint police and prosecutors training sessions.

The Prosecution Development Centre in Malmö, which co-ordinates the Prosecution Authority's response to hate crimes, has summarized and updated its policy and published a Legal memorandum on hate crimes. This guidance document provides advice to prosecutors on investigation of hate crimes in order to ensure a coherent and effective approach across Sweden.

Three training sessions of two days each and an advanced pilot programme of five days were delivered as part of the national training for police on hate crimes. On a regional level, the specialized Hate Crime Units disseminated training to the front line police officers. An interactive online training on hate crime is under development for all police officers and will be made available through the police intranet, in addition to existing guidance on the identification and investigation of hate crimes.

As in every year, the police organized a national consultative forum to co-ordinate its action against hate crimes with civil society and affected groups, in addition to regional and local interactions. The police raised public awareness of hate crimes through social media and other topical involvement – such as participation in direct dialogue, media appearances, the production of three short films about hate crimes and participation in LGBT Pride festivals.

The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions and the Equality Ombudsman's Office co-ordinate collaboration, exchange of experiences and networking among local authorities in order to improve local responses to hate crimes.

The Crime Victim Fund of the Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority and other public bodies sponsored a number of civil society initiatives to raise awareness of hate crimes among the LGBT community, the Afro-Swedish population, as well as the general public. Projects to develop tools for the authorities to improve their response to hate crime victims were also funded. Direct support to victims of hate crime and trainings for government by civil society groups have also received public funding.