Stockholm Police Mourn Loss Of Swords

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30630, 22 December 1964, Page 6

Stockholm Police Mourn Loss Of Swords

(N.Z.P.A Reuter) STOCKHOLM (Sweden). Stockholm police are soon to hand in their swords in exchange for truncheons, and the change is already being mourned bv some police veterans. of. the most distinctive features of the Stockholm street scene within living memory has been the elegant policeman in his wellcut navy uniform, peaked cap and tasselled sword slung from a leather belt.

But younger men have complained that the yardlong swords keep getting in the way when they were chasing a suspect. Civilian critics have been known to declare mockingly that Stockholm seemed to be policed by a force of admirals.

Truncheon Cheaper

Now, police headquarters have decided that practical considerations demand a change to the short wooden truncheon which is more manoeuvrable and cheaper. The truncheon, in fact, costs about 15 crowns (about £1) compared with the 100 crowns (about £7) for a sword. The truncheons themselves are already in the police stores. But the change has to await the fastenings needed to attach them to the belt. These will come later. Swords have been in and out of favour with the Stockholm police intermittently ever since they were issued to the newly-formed city Corps de Garde in 1814. The original swords were replaced by truncheons in 1849, but returned about 40 years later, first for night duty and then as full-time weapons. For Emergency

This time, however, their eclipse is likely to be permanent, although, according to present instructions, they are to be kept in store for use in an emergency. Police officials admit that they cannot foresee any possible emergency which would make it necessary to re-issue them, so the slender, brass-handled swords are expected to find their way eventually to the souvenir market. Police forces in the rest of Sweden are expected to follow Stockholm’s example next year, and there will then be about 5000 swords looking for a new home.

To the layman, the most surprising argument used by defenders of the police sword is that it is less dengerous than the wooden stick. “A truncheon blow on the head can be fatal, and it is capable of inflicting serious in-

jury elsewhere on the body," Police Superintendent Foike Rutstedt said. “The flat of the sword is definitely less dangerous. “What is more, the sword has a quite considerable psychological effect. It frightens the law-breaker more than a truncheon does. And many police officers never use their sword at all in the whole of their career." Swords were last used in Stockholm just over 10 years ago. One hot night in August 1954, two policemen surrounded by drunken revellers tried to make an arrest. The crowd became hostile and the two officers called in a dozen reinforcements. Swords were drawn and the crowd was broken up. Casualities were minor, according to the police. The sword has for some time been an optional item of equipment outside Stockholm. Police in Malmoe, for example, do not carry them.

The decision to change to truncheons has been welcomed in Stockholm by some

. civilian critics as a step bringing Stockholm into line with London, New York. Paris and Berlin. But not the chief of the Stockholm police museum, Inspector John Berg: “My personal view is that the truncheon creates no respect, although it can be a deadly weapon. With the sword, it is the other way round. It inspires respect in the law-breaker and a feeling of security in the man carrying it. “When I K was on the beat, I used to carry a sword even when truncheons were allowed. You could tell the difference. Police have had to use swords only about once in every 10 years. But with a truncheon, you only have to touch it for a potential lawbreaker to feel that he is being challenged.” One punctilious Stockholmer is asking whether the change from sword to truncheon is really progressive. He himself sees it is a step from the Bronze Age back into the Stage Age.