His innovation helps reduce crime and make society safer

Insecurity and crime cause great suffering and cost society enormous sums of money every year. Researcher Henrik Andershed at Örebro University has developed a method and a digital tool to make crime prevention and safety promotion efforts more effective.

“A knowledge-based and systematic approach reduces crime and increases safety. In this way, my research contributes to a better society,” he says.

According to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention’s national safety survey, feelings of insecurity and concern about crime in society are on the rise. Women are the most concerned, but the greatest increase in concern is among young men.

“Crime and insecurity are both costly to society and cause great suffering,” says Henrik Andershed, professor of criminology and psychology.

Henrik Andershed has been conducting research on crime for over 20 years and, over the years, has collaborated extensively with the police, local governments, and housing companies, revealing a common challenge.   

Tools needed for collaboration and an overview of initiatives

– I saw that these stakeholders needed to be able to work together to map crime and unsafe areas in a way that would allow them to share information with one another. They were also looking for a way to better collaborate and learn from each other’s efforts. As a researcher, I saw that this could be linked to research and a more systematic, knowledge-based, and thus more effective approach, he says.

IT systems that track crime and insecurity

Henrik Andershed began to sketch out a solution. Five years ago, he founded the company Embrace Safety AB, which is now a successful business with more than 25 municipalities as clients. Embrace Safety offers both guidance and training in crime prevention. The tool itself is an IT system used to map crimes and incidents that create a sense of insecurity in, for example, a municipality or a neighborhood.

– Embrace is a digital tool that allows users to report incidents they perceive as unsafe via a mobile app—including events that would never lead to a police report. Community workers, building managers, school staff, and others who are out and about in the community have been tasked with keeping an eye out and submitting reports through the app. Together with police data on reported crimes, this creates a clear picture of the situation on a map, which is continuously updated and provides insight into where, on which days of the week, and at what times problems occur, explains Henrik Andershed.

See what impact initiatives and solutions have

Based on this situational overview, municipalities and other users can then analyze the causes of the incidents and implement measures, which can subsequently be monitored and evaluated.

– By using Embrace to plot on the map, for example, whether you’re renovating a town square, hiring night watchmen, or implementing an anti-violence program at a school, you can clearly see the impact of the initiative. It’s about approaching crime prevention in a systematic and knowledge-based way and choosing solutions based on evidence, rather than relying solely on intuition, explains Henrik Andershed.

Can allocate resources to troubled areas

Two of the municipalities that use Embrace are Arboga and Kungsör, where Andreas Ahlsén serves as security coordinator. He describes the challenges faced there as fairly typical for smaller municipalities.

“It could involve drugs, vandalism, burglaries and thefts, or burglary gangs passing through,” he says.

Previously, Andreas Ahlsén and his colleagues worked manually to create a situational overview, but since the summer of 2020, the digital tool Embrace has served as the foundation for safety and security efforts in both municipalities.

– We receive data on where and when incidents occur in the municipalities, which allows us to identify the times and locations where we should deploy resources, such as security guards or neighborhood safety patrols. We also work closely with the community police and discuss almost daily what has come into the system, which allows them to direct their efforts to where the needs are greatest. It’s a huge boost, he says.

Reduced costs to society

He believes it is a major advantage that even incidents that do not result in a police report are recorded in the system.

– These may be places that are perceived as unsafe, such as large gatherings of people, groups of young people on motorcycles, or drug use in a public square. In such cases, the police can include that location in their patrol route and increase their presence there.

Andreas Ahlsén says that crime prevention efforts have become more systematic and cost-effective when there is a fact-based foundation for decision-making to work from. Even though it costs municipalities a bit to purchase the service.

– For example, we tried installing a camera at a school where we’d had incidents of vandalism and saw that reports of such incidents dropped by 80 percent. If we can redirect security patrols or night patrols to a location where vandalism or graffiti has occurred, we’ve quickly recouped the cost. And it’s not just about the municipality’s money; the business community, the Swedish Transport Administration, and private property owners also incur costs. It’s positive for the entire economy—while also contributing to increased safety for residents,” says Andreas Ahlsén.

Aligns with the 2030 Agenda

In addition to reduced societal costs, Henrik Andershed also sees other benefits in adopting a more systematic approach to combating crime and insecurity.

– It’s about actually preventing violent crime and ensuring that people aren’t victimized. The human benefit is enormous. Furthermore, when a municipality can demonstrate that it takes a proactive and preventive approach to crime, it becomes more attractive, and people are happier living there.

He also sees a connection to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

– Keeping crime rates low—or even aiming for a zero-crime society—is truly in line with the global goals related to safety, security, and social sustainability. This is one of the most important things I’ve experienced as a researcher. Being able to disseminate and implement knowledge from research in a way that yields very clear practical benefits has been energizing and has strengthened my resolve both to continue researching these issues and in the realization that we as researchers must dare to apply our research in society,” he says.

Text:Anna Lorentzon
Video: Isabell Borgencrantz