The Moderate Party is going to the election on increased camera surveillance, according to the party. It wants a camera offensive in Region Stockholm, using the new camera law fully, including against open drug scenes. The new camera law came into effect on April 1, allowing increased camera surveillance.
At the end of last year, there were just over 3,900 police cameras, both fixed and mobile, compared to 948 at the end of 2022, according to multiple reports. The Moderate Party also wants to introduce new possibilities for secret interception, data reading, and camera surveillance against active gang members to prevent crime. It seeks to lower the threshold for when secret coercive measures can be used in criminal investigations.
Similar legislation already exists to prevent terrorism and espionage. According to the head of the Police's National Operations Department, there are currently about 5,000 people in vulnerable areas who are prepared to shoot others. The party wants to make it a criminal offense to be a member of a criminal gang and to introduce anonymous witnesses.
On hybrid threats and foreign intelligence, the Moderate Party wants to develop an offensive strategy regarding foreign intelligence officers operating on Swedish soil. It proposes appointing an inquiry to review Swedish criminal legislation in relation to hybrid threats, and giving the Armed Forces and the Police a mandate to develop a joint strategy to counter the drone threat. The party wants to amend the signals intelligence law to allow signals intelligence even if both sender and receiver are in Sweden, and to change legislation so that the Armed Forces can support the Police in extraordinary events and be compensated for this new task.
It also wants to get the review system for foreign direct investments in place as soon as possible, ensure that Säpo has sufficient resources to educate and support the Swedish business community in security protection work, review how socially important companies can receive special support from intelligence and security services, map policy documents used by state-owned companies and institutions that risk negative effects on Swedish capability and security, and limit municipal self-governance in matters concerning national security by introducing a state control system for ports and airports. In cyber defense, the Moderate Party wants to establish a national cyber defense campus with its own education and research resources, and appoint a national cyber coordinator. The party states that gang crime is the biggest threat to people's lives and safety right now, and that over 1,100 shootings have occurred in Sweden in the last four years.
It claims the government says no to several of its proposals to stop the shootings, and is calling the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior to the Riksdag. Party leader Ulf Kristersson said at a press conference that the best results are crimes prevented in advance by following a person in real time. Kristoffer Tamsons, opposition regional councilor in Region Stockholm, said that when the government clears the way for local crime prevention work, Region Stockholm must be proactive, and that the Moderates are taking the initiative for a camera offensive to use the new camera law fully.
He also noted that more cameras, live cameras, and a joint security center with municipalities like Stockholm are among the proposals for a safer Stockholm.