STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Last month a policeman was arrested in Sweden for endangering the lives of other citizens, after he opened fire while chasing a burglar. He was later freed, but that did not stop more employees of the Swedish law enforcement department to quit their jobs to protest work conditions and job insecurity.
According to the Swedish media, one policeman is dismissed and one is disciplined every three months for mistreating detainees.
The policeman, who was arrested last week and freed by the Stockholm court, was able to avoid a severe legal punishment.
According to unofficial records Kurdish immigrants form one percent of the Swedish population and some work in sensitive government positions, such as in law enforcement. However, due to increasingly strict regulations and bureaucracies, Kurds also have begun quitting jobs as policemen.
Last year man Dana Ahmed, a Swedish policeman who is an ethnic Kurd, was dismissed after twisting the arms of a detainee. His dismissal led a number of other ethnic Kurd and Arab policemen to quit their jobs as well.
“A lot of work in return for low pay is a very boring job,” said Ahmed, while explaining the reasons for quitting his job as a policeman. “We are not trained to respect people who could potentially kill us,” he explained.
“Working as a policeman in this country is very tiresome, and getting dismissed is an ever present threat in this occupation,” said Ahmed, who is now happily working in another job.
Many experienced immigrant policemen have left their jobs. Those who have acquired professional experience tend to work as intelligence agents in Sweden.
One of the high-ranking deputies in the Swedish Security Police (Sapo) is a Kurdish immigrant from south Kurdistan. According to media reports, Sapo has employed more than 10 Kurds as undercover agents.
A report by Jan Guillou, a well-known Swedish researcher and writer, was previously broadcasted by the Swedish state radio, in which he stated that Sapo is recruiting Kurdish immigrants as spies.
“When arresting the number one suspect in any case, it is impossible to respect his rights as a human,” said one dismissed policeman, who spoke to Rudaw on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of his case. “This is a false bureaucracy in the Western countries and the criminals are greatly manipulating it.”
Swedish policemen from immigrant backgrounds, often working in districts mostly populated by immigrants, do well in their jobs, data show.
“We are better than others in our job,” said Jaffar Karim, a policeman in Malmo city in the south, which is populated by immigrants and known for unrest and Mafia activities. “We rarely fail in carrying out our duties, but police bureaucracy is our biggest obstacle.”
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