Swedish Security Service
 Swedish Security Service  (Intelligence service)   | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Subpage | •Swedish Security Service/Director-General |
The Swedish Security Service (Swedish:Säkerhetspolisen, abbreviated SÄPO; until 1989 Rikspolisstyrelsens säkerhetsavdelning, abbreviated RPS/Säk[1]) is a Swedish government agency organised under the Ministry of Justice.
It operates as a security agency responsible for counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, as well as the protection of dignitaries and the constitution. The Swedish Security Service is also tasked with investigating crimes against national security and terrorist crimes.[2][3][4] Its main mission, however, is to prevent crimes, and not to investigate them. Crime prevention is to a large extent based on information acquired via contacts with the regular police force, other authorities and organisations, foreign intelligence and security services, and with the use of various intelligence gathering activities, including interrogations, telephone tapping, covert listening devices, and hidden surveillance cameras.[5][6]
The Service was, in its present form, founded in 1989, as part of the National Police Board and became an autonomous police agency on 1 January 2015.
References
- ↑ Rikets säkerhet och den personliga integriteten. De svenska säkerhetstjänsternas författningsskyddade verksamhet sedan år 1945. (SOU 2002:87), p. 15.
- ↑ Swedish Security Service 2013, p. 8.
- ↑ Swedish Security Service 2015, 'Yearbook', p. 9.
- ↑ SFS 1984:387, § 3.
- ↑ SOU 2012:44, pp. 114, 118–123.
- ↑ 2014/15:JuU2.
