HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A life of vice is never voluntary

Sweden has led the way in tackling prostitution with the introduction of tough legislation and enforcement. Stephen Rogers travelled to the country to learn about the much vaunted ‘Swedish Model’ on dealing with human trafficking. In the first of a two-part series, he compares the Irish and Swedish approaches to what is the world’s fastest growing crime and looks at what lessons can be learned.

THE modus operandi of the police forces in Ireland and Sweden could not be more different simply because of the importance the two jurisdictions assign to the crime.

In Sweden, one of the country’s most influential policemen, Detective Inspector Jonas Trolle of the Stockholm Police Department, spent most of the last 10 years heading up the anti-human trafficking surveillance unit in the city. Now the head of all surveillance, he still runs human trafficking training in the Swedish National Police Academy.