ABSTRACT
This chapter overviews the crime trends and patterns in Sweden as a background for discussion of the police reorganization that came into force on 1 January 2015. Police refers to the civil force that is responsible for the detection and prevention of crime and the maintenance of public order. Rural areas in Sweden have shown signs of social and economic change, which have imposed new demographic, socioeconomic and cultural patterns of differentiation at both local and regional levels. For instance, property crimes targeting enterprises, farm crime, environmental and wildlife crime often fall outside a crime prevention group's agenda. Preexistent and new demographic and socioeconomic conditions in the region can be pointed out as important factors behind the regional increase in property crime rates. The police reform indicates a centralization of the vital functions of the police at the same time as it is intended to keep community policing alive.
