Auxiliary Police - Sweden

Sweden

The Swedish Auxiliary Police, Beredskapspolisen, was created in 1986 with the purpose to aid the regular police, primarily as a pool of trained manpower in special situations such as larger disturbances of the peace, major black-outs and power failures and natural disasters. The Swedish police force was increased in size from around 2006 and the Swedish Auxiliary Police were disbanded on October 1st 2012 as being no longer needed.

The Auxiliary Police were organised with at least one section per län. Each section consisted of two or more troops and each troop consisted of three eight-man squads. All leadership positions were filled by experienced police officers from the regular police force who had undergone leadership training. The auxiliary police officers were recruited exclusively among people who had completed their military service but since 1 January 2008 military service was no longer a requirement.

The uniforms were similar to the regular police with the exception of the name Beredskapspolis instead of Polis. The auxiliary police did not initially carry pistols, but only used the Carl Gustav M/45 which was also used by the regular police in special situations. Later, this weapon was replaced by a police version of the Army's Ak 5 - the CGA5P. Later, the auxiliary police was, when needed, armed only with the standard Swedish police pistol the Sig Sauer.