Foreign embassy information in the event of a major incident in Sweden

Information regarding the police operation

The head of a police region may appoint a special commander to handle a par-ticularly serious, extensive or complex incident within a police region (a Regional Special Police Operation). Information and actions due to the incident will be managed and processed within the specially appointed temporary regional commanders organisation.

The National Police Commissioner and the Head of the National Operations Department (Acting National Police Commissioner) may also designate a special commander to handle a particularly serious, extensive or complex incident on a national level (a National Special Police Operation).

Regional Commanders will then be designated to support the National Commander and, if already designated, to assume their functions in the temporary operation. Information and actions due to the incident will be managed and processed within the specially appointed temporary national commanders organisation.

The Swedish Police Authority will provide ongoing information of the incident to the Government through the Swedish Ministry of Justice. The Swedish Ministry of Justice coordinates such information within the Government Offices of Sweden.

Information about an ongoing Special Police Operations is typically classified as Confidential or Secret in accordance with EU or NATO standards. In Sweden, information relating to a criminal investigation is subject to secrecy.

Classified information relating to the preliminary investigation will not be communicated to the Government Offices of Sweden.

Information regarding identification of deceased persons

Immediately following an incident, a process of verifying the number of victims in need and deceased persons will be initiated.

Identification of deceased persons will be carried out, in accordance with established international routines, by the Swedish ID Commission tasked with Disaster Victim Identification at the National Operations Department, Swedish Police Authority.

In the event that someone who is likely to be of foreign descent is missing or assumed dead, the Swedish ID Commission will request all available information about the person (ante mortem information, e.g. DNA and/or finger-prints and/or status of teeth) from the police authority in the specific country in order to prove or confirm their identity. Interpol is used to communicate this request.

A forensic post mortem examination will be conducted and all medical and physical details pertaining to the body will be recorded. When the ante mortem data matches the post mortem data, the identification of a person is confirmed. All work is based on the Interpol guidelines on identification procedures.

When the identity of the deceased has been confirmed, information will be forwarded to the relevant country’s police or, when applicable, the country´s Interpol National Contact Point with a request for relatives to be informed.

Confirmed identities will be communicated to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs once the establishment of identity has been carried out in accordance with current legal framework.

Information regarding injured victims

In the event of an incident, the injured victims will, if necessary, be sent to local hospitals for further care.

Questions regarding possibly injured foreign citizens have to be addressed to the relevant care institution.