Dan Tore Eliasson (born 14 August 1961 in Sundsvall) is a Swedish lawyer and civil servant. He was appointed National Police Commissioner by the Minister for Home Affairs in November 2014 and began serving on 1 January 2015. Eliasson is a graduate of law at Uppsala University and had prior to his appointment served as director-general of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. He has also served as ambassador and Chief of International Affairs at the Ministry of Justice in 1999–2001, State Secretary under the Minister for Justice Thomas Bodström in 2001–2006, acting head of the Swedish Security Service in 2006 and the Director-General of the Swedish Migration Agency 2007–2011.[1][2][3]
Head of Swedish Social Insurance Agency
In October 2011 Eliasson became head of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Swedish: Försäkringskassan).[4] As head of the agency he ordered the article about himself on Swedish Wikipedia to be edited by agency staff to remove criticism.[5]
According to a staff poll at the agency, employees at the agency had very low confidence at Eliasson.[4]
Head of Swedish Police Authority
In November 2014 Eliasson was appointed the new head of the Swedish Police Authority and he took up the position 1 January 2015 while the authority was in the middle of a major restructuring.[4][6] His appointment was criticized by the police union on the grounds that Eliasson is not a police officer and had no experience of policing.[7]
In September 2015, during the ongoing European migration crisis, Eliasson, being the chief of police, blocked attempts by Swedish regional police and customs authorities to erect border controls. Consequently, the cabinet ministers received no request from police to organise border checks.[8] The controls were ordered in November 2016 by the cabinet.[8]
On or about 27 January 2016, Eliasson sparked controversy in Sweden and beyond by appearing to sympathize with a Somalian "teenage" asylum-seeker accused of having murdered social worker Alexandra Mezher in Mölndal, a suburban community near Gothenburg (Göteborg).[9] Later, it emerged that the killer was not under 18 and possibly not even a teenager, but had lied about his age in order to receive favourable treatment when claiming asylum.[10]
In June 2016 Eliasson led a campaign to hand out armband saying "don't grope" to curb groping and sexual assaults, like those at the 2014 and 2015 We Are Sthlm sexual assaults.[11] The armbands were criticised as being ineffectual and that they laid the responsibility for stopping the assaults on the victims instead of the perpetrators.[11]
In December 2016, Sifo conducted a poll on public opinion on how Dan Eliasson performs as chief of police where 50% stated a negative or very negative view and 11% stated a positive or very positive view.[12]
According to police reports commented upon by Eliasson in June 2015, high crime rate areas numbered 15 in 2015 and 23 in 2017.[13] In October 2017 Eliasson was interviewed by SR Ekot where he was queried about his promise in May 2015[14] to regain control in areas of Sweden with high crime rates. Instead of regaining control, he admitted that the number of such areas had increased.[15] He stated that two years earlier he had not predicted police resources would be saturated by migration, gang shootings, serious crime and terrorism to the degree that was the case.[15] The reason for this inaccurate prediction was that policy makers including himself had not realised the full extent of the problems because they did not fit in the popular image of Sweden as a safe and prosperous country.[15]
On January 31, 2018 it was announced that Eliasson would step down as Police Commissioner.[16] His tenure as head of police ended 15 February 2018[17] and he was replaced by Anders Thornberg.[18]
Head of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency
Eliasson commenced his position as head of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (Swedish: Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap) 5 March 2018.[17]
Eliasson is as of 2018 the highest paid civil servant in Sweden with a monthly salary of 160000 SEK (20000 $).[citation needed]
Controversy
During the 2020/21 COVID-19 outbreak he was one of Sweden’s top health officials, who lead the country’s response to the pandemic.
Early in December 2020 the civil contingencies agency, which Eliasson was the head of, had texted all Swedes urging them to avoid travel, only to then be photographed in Las Palmas airport on the island of Gran Canaria whilst on a family Christmas holiday. [19]
Trivia
Dan Eliasson is also known for his history in the punk scene with his band Bad Boo Band. The band's biggest hit was a 1979 7-inch single called "Knulla i Bangkok" (Fuck In Bangkok).[20]
References
- ^ "Sweden designates new Police commissioner". Sveriges Radio. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
- ^ "Ett oemotståndligt uppdrag". Swedish Police Authority. Retrieved 9 August 2015.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Dalabördig ny rikspolischef". Dalarnas Tidningar (in Swedish). TT. 2014-11-20. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
- ^ a b c "Dan Eliasson blir ny rikspolischef". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-05-21.
- ^ "Myndigheter censurerar Wikipediatexter". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 31 August 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
- ^ "RPC Dan Eliasson lämnar Polismyndigheten". Polistidningen (in Swedish). 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
- ^ "Fackligt uppror mot polisens toppchefer". Sydsvenskan (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-05-21.
- ^ a b "Upprättandet av tillfälliga gränskontroller vid inre gräns RIR 2016:26, page 9" (PDF). riksrevisionen. Swedish National Audit Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
- ^ "Jag ber alla brottsoffer om ursäkt för att min chef är Dan Eliasson". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-03-24.
- ^ "'Child' migrant who killed asylum centre worker is an adult, Swedish migration rules". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
- ^ a b Middleton, Rachel (2016-06-29). "Plans to hand out anti-groping armbands by Sweden police comes under fire". International Business Times UK. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ "opinion.se - Polisens förtroende". opinion.se (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 30 December 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ "Rapport om utsatta områden presenteras - Nyheter (Ekot)". Dagens Eko (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 2017-10-09.
- ^ "Dan Eliasson, bovarnas skräck? - Ekots lördagsintervju". Dagens Eko (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 2017-10-09.
- ^ a b c "Fler utsatta områden trots Dan Eliassons löfte om motsatsen - Nyheter (Ekot)". Dagens Eko. Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 2017-10-09.
- ^ "Rikspolischefen Dan Eliasson avgår". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2018-02-04.
- ^ a b "Dan Eliasson avgår som rikspolischef – går till MSB". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-05-21.
- ^ "Anders Thornberg ny rikspolischef". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-05-21.
- ^ "Sweden official defends Christmas trip to Canary Islands". The BBC. 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ "'Dan Eliasson om låten Knulla i Bangkok" (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. 22 November 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2017.