Swedish Police Wing stays at Arlanda

The Swedish National Police has decided to stay at Arlanda Airport. The Stockholm unit has endured a decade of temporary solutions, but it will now finally be moving in to a permanent base at the airport. The project is under development in cooperation with Swedavia.

During the first ten years of 2000, the police aviation in Stockholm has been moving between several different locations. The unit has moved from Barkarby to Tullinge, to Arlanda, to Berga, to Myttinge and eventually to a temporary placement at Arlanda Airport (at Patria Helicopters).

The senior management of Swedavia, which owns and operates several airports around the country, has approved a permanent establishment at Arlanda Airport.
- If we can finalize this project, we can drop this issue and focus on our business instead, says Håkan Wall, director of Ordningspolisenheten. The Swedish Police Wing is subordinated to Ordningspolisenheten, which is a part of the National Criminal Police (Rikskriminalen).

The Commissioner has in earlier decisions pointed out that Arlanda Airport is a preferred location for the police aviation in Stockholm, and there are several reasons for this. For instance there are many logistical advantages to operate to/from a large airport, and the police can also take advantage of the security structure that already exists at the international airport.

However, the fact that the airport is a major commercial airport that handles hundreds of arrivals every day has also made it difficult to find a solution that benefits all parties.

- Swedavia has worked intensively to evaluate different geographical locations at the airport to find a place where police aviation and scheduled traffic does not interfere with each other. That is not an easy task, but we have already operated at the airport for quite a while through our temporary base, and we have learnt to interact in a positive way, says Håkan Wall.

It is too early to say exactly where the permanent base will be situated, but that’s where the joint project team comes into place.
- Geography is one of the issues they will look at. What we can say now is that none of the existing buildings are suitable, and that the station will be located in a brand new building.

The project team will be establishing the essential basis during the spring, after which the National Police and Swedavia has to go through decision processes in order to launch the project. Mr Wall believes that the police will be operating from the temporary base for yet a couple of years before the new structure come into place.