Governments always need an ’emergency’ to justify granting itself more power over its people.

The government manufactures a crisis.

The people beg for a solution.

With the solution comes a more tyrannical state.

Are we seeing that strategy unfold in Sweden?

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The Swedish government plans to increase police surveillance powers to ‘combat gang violence.’

Proposed measures include drones, artificial intelligence, and facial recognition cameras.

“Sweden plans to deploy more equipment to better tackle gang crime, with the government promising the police an additional 2,500 cameras for next year and allowing the use of facial recognition, easier use of drones and external cameras,” Euractiv reports.

“Cameras are extremely important in a situation like this,” Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer said at a press conference.

Swedish journalist Peter Imanuelsen, who goes by Peter Sweden, has tracked the developments to advance a ‘Big Brother’ police state in Sweden.

“Police can now spy and do surveillance on people who aren’t even suspected of any crime,” he said.

“They are installing loads of new surveillance cameras. Police will use AI for face recognition. Sweden is turning into a big brother police state to stop the gangs,” he added.

“Sweden will now be installing loads of surveillance cameras and use AI face recognition to identify gang criminals. Looks like Sweden is turning into a police state to stop the gangs,” he added.

Euractiv reports:

In total, the right-wing coalition parties (Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals) want the police to have 2,500 cameras next year, instead of the previous target of 1,600, with the minister adding that extra cameras should be granted if further investigations into surveillance lead to law.

In other words, this means a fivefold increase in the number of cameras since the new government took office, Strömmer added.

“In a situation where fewer and fewer people dare to talk to the police, the need for technical evidence is crucial, and we already know that cameras are extremely important,” he said.

If changes to the law are passed, police will be able to make greater use of facial recognition using AI technology in order to make it easier to identify criminals, such as gang members. The government also wants to make automatic number plate recognition a tool for the police.

Under the proposed changes to the law, they will also have more opportunities to use drones and direct access to external cameras, such as the Swedish Transport Administration’s road cameras.

According to a 2022 report in the Independent, “failed integration of immigrants is fueling gang violence and crime.”

From the Independent:

Sweden has failed to integrate the vast numbers of immigrants it has taken in over the past two decades, leading to parallel societies and gang violence, prime minister Magdalena Andersson said on Thursday.

Ms Andersson blamed criminals and took aim at both radical Islamists and right-wing extremism which she claimed has been allowed to fester in Sweden.

The Swedish leader made the unusual and self-critical comments as she launched a series of initiatives to combat organised crime.

Many Swedes were shocked earlier this month after violent riots left more than 100 police injured. The violence erupted after a Swedish-Danish politician burned the Quran at a rally and sought to hold more in several immigrant-dominated neighborhoods.

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Swedish police were forced to fire warning shots during a riot in an eastern city to disperse protesters angry about the days-long demonstrations led by anti-Islam groups. Three people were also left injured in the clashes.

“First Sweden creates the problem by importing millions of fake refugees, then the citizens get upset at how some areas of Sweden have become a 3rd world country. Now the Swedish government, instead of deporting all of the fake refugees (to fix the problem), they instead decide to create a massive surveillance state,” Wall Street Silver wrote.

The Local noted:

The three government parties and the far-right Sweden Democrats believe that the police should be allowed to use facial recognition to identify gang members, have access to technology which can automatically read number plates and also be able to access footage from cameras which are already in place for other reasons, for example cameras used to monitor traffic.

These three points will be investigated in a fast-tracked inquiry.

“At the moment, Swedish police get puzzled questions from colleagues in other countries when they realise that, for example, cameras which are used to monitor the congestion charge can’t be used by police directly for fighting major organised crime,” Strömmer told a press conference.

The exact date at which this will be in place is not yet clear. The four parties are still working on the inquiry and the directive with more details is not publicly available.

“But the whole point [of the fast track] is that this should be complete within six to eight months, this is something that usually takes twice as long,” Strömmer said.

The government has also added a supplementary directive to an ongoing inquiry on camera surveillance, which would allow police further powers to use drones for surveillance purposes. The proposal based on that inquiry will be presented next April.

“The new fast-track inquiry is in addition to new powers the police gained on October 1st, which govern the terms under which Swedish police are permitted to monitor conversations in order to prevent crimes from occurring,” The Local stated.

“Under the new rules, the police are able to use these measures in cases of typical gang-related crimes, such as murder, abduction, bombs and serious weapon or drug-related crimes,” the outlet added.

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