KNOCK KNOCK - IT'S THE RAVE SQUAD

The police super commando against drug abuse by young people has received a
new mandate. But do young people have respect for the Rave Squad and are
they doing a good job?

The police station in Nacka, Sweden, at the beginning of January 1997: The
chief of the Rave Squad Rickard Johansson turns off his mobile phone, hangs
it in his belt and sits down behind his desk. He reads aloud from a paper:
"998 reports have been made of crimes against the narcotics laws. The Squad
has taken 658 urine and blood tests. A total of 1329 persons have been
apprehended."

That is the official result of the Rave Squads work from its inauguration
on November 20 1996 to December 31, 1997. Rickard Johansson leans back in
his chair, nods towards the paper and says that the figures speak a clear
language. He seems pleased and means that this proves that the Rave Squads
way of doing things is successful, that this is just this way the upward
trend in drug taking amongst young people can be broken.

County Police Chief Gunno Gunnmo is just as pleased. He has just extended
the Rave Squads mandate till February 1, 1999. For the heavily criticised
Swedish police, the Rave Squad is a bullseye, a successful group that can
show hard and clear results as well as being good at working with mass
media. The picture is positive - but starts to cloud if examined closely.

There are critics who say the Squad uses offensive methods that go beyond
the limits of what is permissible. Others point out that the Squad is
probably effective at apprehending youngsters who are high, but has not
lead to a decrease in drug trafficking. During the year covered by
statistics, the Squads activities have lead to only 15 prison sentences for
serious narcotics offences. So, what exactly is happening? An effective
fight against drugs, or a show for the peanut gallery?

"We are the first and so far the only ones who are doing something about
drug misuse amongst young people" says a female Ravecop one night at the
beginning of February while undercover at the techno club 'Industri 13' in
the town of Tyreso. She is 29 years old, has been in the police force for 8
years and is wrong when she says that the Rave Squad is the first of its
kind. At the beginning of the decade a 'bar-group' was formed whose job
was to do anti drugs work in the bars of Stockholm. The group was small and
consisted of only two policemen who could be re-enforced as needed. Besides
bars they also became interested in the new phenomenon of raves. Raves had
spread to Stockholm from Gothenburg, where the country's first rave was
held in 1989.

In retrospect the effort was considered successful. Police, Social
authorities and Stockholm City carried out a dialogue with the rave
arrangers, who promised to apply for permission for raves and in return
received a promise that the City would help to find suitable rave sites.
The idea was to build up trust and good relations. For the police it meant
the possibility of tracking down dealers at raves. The social authorities
could be on hand to watch over the phenomenon and rescue those who were
heading for trouble.

Jan Quarfordt is one of those who were involved from the side of the
authorities. He is a field assistant and has followed the techno and rave
scene since the early 1990's. This is how he describes his work in an
article in the magazine 'Oberoende', published by the RHFL (National
Organisation for Helping Substance Abusers): " There was a kind of
understanding between the rave culture and society. The police always had a
few 'good guys' on hand. Even if the majority of the police on any night
were investigating and making arrests, there were always some who walked
around being pleasant. They acted as a buffer in a situation loaded with
conflict. This goodwill lasted about a year. It was not the kids who gave
it up. It was society who betrayed the youngsters."

What happened was police overtime was severely curtailed and priorities
were changed. At the same time the City's enthusiasm at helping with sites
cooled.

During the next year the rave scene was a blank space on the map until
Docklands opened and took a monopoly over the Stockholm techno scene. It
also meant a permanent address for uneasy parents and the authorities.
"Even the very real drugs problem in the rave culture had a permanent
address" writes Jan Quarfordt. "Active social prevention work could have
taken place at the permanent address and contact made with the individuals
who developed a need for care."

But it was not to be. The big techno club at Finnboda Shipyards opened in
september 1995 and conflict with the police immediately became a fact. The
conflict was about whether the events in the old welding hall were to be
regarded as general assemblies (no permit required) or public events
(requiring a permit). The Docklands arrangers, with the soon to be
nationally recognised Mats Hinze, alias Ragnar Skjold at their head,
asserted the one, The police asserted the other, clearly provoked by Hinzes
drug liberal pronouncements.

After investigation it was determined that drugs were being sold on the
premises. On the night of February 9 1996 the first big raid was made. It
was followed by a series of confrontations, luridly described in the
national press.

That raves were synonymous with drugs was a recurrent theme in the press,
especially the evening papers. This was now repeated with ever increasing
frenzy. And as extra fuel to the heated reporting, official statistics
showed that drug use amongst the young people of Sweden had gone up
alarmingly since the beginning of the 1990's. The picture was quite clear:
young people were marching to a techno beat into Drug Hell. Something must
be done.

The then County Police Chief, Sven-Ake Hjalmroth, appointed Patrick
Ungsater, a ravecop, as co-ordinator of actions against the apparently
drug bedevilled young people in the late winter of 1996. He soon received
company in his mission with David Beukelmann.

At the same time police in the suburb of Nacka were gaining valuable
experience about raves, drugs and young people. When the war over Docklands
was finally won and the club closed, Rickhard Johansson, who was then chief
of Nackas investigation and drug squad, launched the idea of a special
force who could operate against drug use amongst young people across the
entire county.

The newly appointed County Police chief Gunno Gunnmo liked the idea and
made the final decision October 30 1996: "A squad with the goal of
reducing drug use amongst young people in Stockholm county will be formed.
The squad will pay special attention to the availability of drugs in
connection with so - called raves".

Police from all over the county of Stockholm applied voluntarily for posts
with the new squad. Two of them were Beukelmann and Ungsater. The Rave
Squad was split into 3 groups of six policemen each with an average age of
28. Two groups were in the field and one in the station on a rotating basis.

The operation was based in Nacka, despite there being those in the police
who thought it would be more logical to base operations with the county
Criminal Investigation Department who had closer contact with the County
Drugs Squad. The Squad moved to its headquarters in March at the same time
as it changed its chief. Rickard Johansson, who originally was in charge,
started his new job as police chief in Varmdo on the first of February.

His temporary replacement, Jan Magnusson, is actually with the county Drugs
Squad where he is in charge of "Secret Operations", that is telephone
tapping and similar measures. Who will eventually be permanent chief of the
Rave Squad is still unclear. It is also not clear how the Squads work will
change as a result of the move. In the City of Stockholm there is tougher
competition for resources than there is in the suburbs.

"If they formed a street violence squad things would be different out on
the streets, but as it is there is little money and no new policemen. It is
also a result of what society judges to be acute", comments Peter Agren,
criminal inspector with the Youth Squads street violence group in the City.

That group consists of 4 persons. The Rave Squad is six times larger - and
10 times larger than its predecessor at the beginning of the 1990's. There
is one other big difference between the rave police today and the rave
police of six or seven years ago. Today there is a new weapon that did not
exist then. And that isn't the new telescope club the Rave Squad got
permission from the National Police Authority to test, but something much
more effective.

This is the situation: At the beginning of the 1990's personal consumption
of narcotics was illegal as a result of a tightening of the drug laws in
1988. Consumption was, however, classed as a minor drugs offence and did
not carry a prison sentence, only a fine. This changed on July 1 1993.
Since then anyone who consumes narcotics can be sentenced to a minimum of a
fine and a maximum of six months in prison.

For the police this has meant a dramatic change, as they have the power to
search anyone suspected of a crime that carries a prison sentence. This is
the key to the operations of the Rave Squad, they can take a closer look at
people they suspect are under the influence of drugs.

The first step in a search is performed with a flashlight. They shine it in
the eyes of a suspect. The light shows how the pupils react. If they react
incorrectly, that is, not at all, too slowly or are already contracted, the
search continues at the nearest police station. The suspect must give a
urine sample and/or take a blood test and sometimes strip if it is
suspected they have taped forbidden substances to their bodies.

The Rave squad keeps accurate statistics of all it does. Facts about
arrests and number of occasions where people have been forced to give blood
or urine tests are willingly released, not least to the media.

There is , however, no clear statistics of how many people have been taken
to police stations, forced to give blood tests and then cleared some weeks
later when it was found that their blood did not contain any illegal
substances.

A person in this category is known internally as a "miss" and the
approximate figure that is given is that around 15% of tests are "misses".
That means about 100 persons to date.

One of the innocent arrestees is Ingemar Johansson, aged 22. Around 3am. on
December 14 he came out from the Oum bar. He had been there 3 hours along
with 4 friends and they had been dancing continually. When they came out
and walked round the corner to their car, they were approached by 3
persons. They flashed their badges. Two of them were from the rave
commission and the third was a policeman from Norrkoping, says Ingemar
Johansson.

He and the other 4 were lined up against a wall and a policeman approached
him. The policeman spoke with a soft voice, psychological and agreeably,
according to Ingemar.

"What have you taken this evening?"

"Nothing", said Ingemar, who is the chairman of a club called Clear Senses,
whose purpose is to arrange drug free techno parties. He told this to the
policeman, who searched through his clothes and wallet.

" Yeah, Yeah, they all say that, what have you taken this evening, have you
been sentenced for anything before?". "No" answered Ingemar as a searching
hand found something in his trouser pocket. The policeman beamed and said
"What have you here, then?" as he pulled out Ingemars chewing gum packet
and shone a flashlight in his eyes.

"Your pupils don't react as they should", said the policeman and turned to
his colleagues and the other four lined up against the wall. "Ingemar here
is coming to the station".

Ingemar asked him: "Just a minute, at least tell me why you think I have
taken drugs?"

The policeman said: "You have a cotton mouth and you have chewing gum in
your pocket". "But you get a dry mouth from dancing" said Ingemar. "You
have a cotton mouth" repeated the policeman, who meant that people who take
amphetamine get dry mouths.

Ingemar Johansson was driven to the police station at Torkel
Knutssonsgatan. On the way the policeman repeated his question: "What have
you taken? Its best you admit it now." The interrogation continued at the
station before Ingemar had to give a urine test before being released. "You
are judged in advance, you go in guilty and come out guilty. It is damned
unpleasant. It's like they do more than they need to, they are out to
harass" said Ingemar Johansson a few weeks later when he received a letter
from the Rave squad:

"On december 14 you were apprehended on suspicion of having consumed
narcotics and your urine was tested. The analysis results from the Criminal
Medicine Authority show no traces of narcotics in your urine and therefore
no action will be taken".

A couple of weeks later he was apprehended again. Ingemar Johansson was at
a rave at Mindescape. A few minutes after entering he made contact with a
woman of around 30 years old. He thought at first she was a social worker,
but she turned out to be a ravecop.

She took him aside and questioned him, but let him go after a while.

Ingemar Johanssons story is not unique. There are many people who tell of
being harassed and humiliated by the Rave squad. In an Ombudsman report
dated March 10 1997 of a complaint by a person who was apprehended and
searched 4 times in 3 weeks, the mass searches by the Rave squad were
criticised.

Many experience these searches as an exercise in power carried out
arbitrarily by the police. Stefan Bergman, a prosecutor, explains that it
is up to every policeman to decide if there are sufficient grounds for a
search. It is not just a simple matter of how a person behaves.

Meeting someone in an environment where it is expected to find drug abusers
increases suspicion. In other words: If you go to a place where music is
being played that the Rave Squad classes as techno you are more or less
fair game and are treated roughly. "Junkie", "Damned Junkie", "Junkie
filth", "Druggie", "Damned Druggie" "Druggie rat", "Junkie Whore", "Pippi
Junkie" are all terms used by the Rave Squad when talking to suspects. The
last example "Pippi Junkie" seems strange, but it is what a young red
haired woman with pigtails and a parting in the middle says she was called.

At the beginning of January Bjorn Jansson, a DJ and rave arranger, posted a
message on an Internet mailing list: "We MUST start to meet hard with hard.
Report the police when they do things they are not allowed to (provoke,
police brutality, illegal methods etc.) We must be aware of our rights all
the time. We must be able to stand up for ourselves and make demands on the
police". But he says he has not much hope he will be heard. There are so
many who think that what the police and other authorities say is always
the law, especially when they use an interrogative tone.

The ravers and clubbers own stories build up a picture of a group of police
with a serious attitude problem and a conviction that the ends justify any
means.

" The police methods from 1992-1993 could be understood. But the Rave
squads way of working nobody can bloody well understand" says Jan Quarfordt.

It is obvious that the Rave Squad takes lightly its duty to report all
searches and interrogations, including those in the field when they wield
their flashlights. This was admitted without reservation by David
Beukelmann when he was asked on a rave related mailing list how many were
picked up at the MIndscape rave in December, had their eyes shone into,
were searched and then released. "There are no statistics over how many we
apprehended during the evening" says Beukelmann. "I agree it would be good
if we had statistics for everything, but that is impossible. We would be
doing nothing but filling out forms" The Rave Squad take their
responsibilities lightly. That can be proven, but how do you prove a bad
attitude?

Word stands against word and the Rave Squads own description of its
relations to people bears no resemblance to that of its critics. They
assert that their work consists mostly of talking to and having good
contacts with the young people they meet. "It happens sometimes that we
hear from youngsters we have picked up and they tell us "That was the best
thing that could have happened", says Rickard Johansson. Stefan Bergman
advises us not to listen to critics: "There are millions to be earned
getting youngsters to go to these places" he says, meaning techno clubs and
raves, "In those circles there is a clear interest in discrediting us. You
must be careful about who you get your information from."

But the Rave Squads detectives reveal themselves in their own shift
reports, informally kept reports written after every nights work.

Young women are called "rave rats" and a rave arranger has the word
"junkie" inserted in front of his real name. Young people are referred to
as "nigger kids" playing hide and seek.

The rave squad was formed to reduce drug abuse amongst young people.
According to the yearly report from the Ministry of Health and the Central
Office for Alcohol and Narcotics Information there has been a dramatic
increase in drug use amongst young people during the 90's. The same report
shows that young people in Stockholm use the most drugs.

The question is obvious: can the Rave Squad do something about this?. Those
who answer no put themselves in a direct collision course with the signals
society has been sending the last few years through the criminalisation of
drug use, increased punishment for minor narcotics offences and not least,
the formation of the Rave Squad. Narcotics are to be fought with an iron
fist. There are politicians who want to escalate even further. The previous
Minister of Justice, Gun Hellsvik, has presented a motion to give police
powers to drug test children below the age of legal responsibility (15
years and younger) if it is suspected they have taken narcotics.

Those who are against hard measures are not only against the Rave Squad and
Gun Hellsvik, but are questioning the very foundations of Swedish narcotics
policy.

This is not an easy position to take even though it is shared by a number
of researchers in Swedish Universities and High Schools. One of them is
Mats Hilte, researcher with the Social High School at Lund University. He
points out that the increase in drug use amongst young people coincides
with the tightening of the law and the increase in police offensives.

This doesn't mean that young people are influenced by hard measures. In an
article in the newspaper Sydsvenska Dagbladet 3.9.97 he wrote: "The
criminalisation of drug use is a simple but expensive solution to a problem
that is complex and composite. The politicians and their laws have replaced
social workers with policemen at the same time that councils have been
drastically cutting drug rehabilitation programmes."

The article gave rise to a long debate in which Mats Hilte was accused of
being a 'legalisation agitating drug romantisiser'. This is not an unusual
fate for those who do research in drug abuse. "It is a problem amongst drug
researchers that while it is accepted that problems are complex in other
areas, in this one the answers have to be simple. It does not help to run
around with truncheons when the problem lies in the social structure." says
Borje Olsson, drug abuse researcher with the Criminological Institute of
Stockholm University.

Monalisa Lundgren, field assistant with the Social Services Youth Group has
had a similar experience. " It is unpleasant when you try to have a nuanced
view of things instead of just jumping up and down shouting 'drugs must be
crushed whatever the cost' and then are accused of being a drug liberal."

Ted Goldberg, lecturer at the Social High School in Stockholm says that
because of his work he has been excluded from the media and silenced. In
his book 'Narcotics demystified, a social perspective' (Carlssons, 1993)
which is used as course literature at the High School he criticises the
heavy handed Swedish narcotics policy. He asserts that there is a risk that
the war on drugs is also a war against the fundamental values of a
democratic society. For the drug warriors the ends justify the means.

Ted Goldberg also raises criticism against society's noisy condemnation of
drugs. He says he has evidence it creates side effects - 'control damage'.
He says that persons with a negative self image are attracted rather than
repelled when drugs are demonised. Another negative effect is that hard
drug abusers are further marginalised and sink deeper into drug abuse.

There exists a kind of moral panic. The expression was coined at the
beginning of the 1970's by the British sociologist Stanley Cohen who
studied the reaction of British society to the fights between Mods and
Rockers in the middle of the sixties. His definition of a moral panic is
that something, a situation, a phenomenon, a person or group of people are
pointed out as a threat to the values of established society. Mass media,
which is the main instigator of every moral panic, presents the threat in a
simplified and exaggerated way and offers a channel for the moral guardians
of established society to recommend appropriate measures. The racy
journalism and the doomsday prophesies of the experts lead not only to the
moral panic being magnified, it also makes the object of the moral panic, a
youth sub culture for example , take on the properties it is already said
to have. The 'Truths' of the morally panic stricken become self fulfilling
prophesies.

We can be sure that the rave culture has caused a moral panic during the
1990's. But how much guilt must be borne by the frightened established
society for the drugs in that culture? We must ask the question again - has
the Rave Squad achieved the results intended?

"Yes!" says Rickard Johansson. "The critics have not understood the purpose
of our work, which is engagement and early detection. This we believe is
highly important. It is much easier for a parent to understand the
situation when they see in black and white that their son or daughter has
cannabis in their blood. The critics do not understand our goals. The
police have their role, then other authorities must take over. The police
have a repressive role and we have seen that the way we work has a very
good effect".

But the truth of the matter is that no one knows what the effect of the
Rave Squads work is. The police say they have a good effect. People in the
rave and techno scene say the effect is that illegal raves have become more
common. It is said that those who use drugs avoid going out as there is a
risk of being arrested. This is noticeable in the Rave Squads shift reports
which show that a lot of effort is put into spying on private houses and
hanging around in stairways listening for suspicious sounds coming from
apartments.

During January 1998, the Rave Squads detectives spent more time working in
bars and watching private houses than they spent at raves. Stefan Bergman
still thinks that the name, a left over from the early raids on the
Dockland raves, is appropriate and reflects the work of the Squad. It is
ravers that are the targets of the squads attention: where there is techno
being played, there are junkies to be hunted down.

"The Rave Squad works exactly like the Vikings who headed their raids to
wherever they expected to find something. My opinion is that drugs go hand
in hand with the rave culture. The arrangers have drug liberal attitudes
and certain groups deliver a drug liberal message. They sing about
'ecstacy, 'fantasy, about taking a trip'. That is nonsense for most people,
but the initiated understand the message at once", says the prosecutor.

The Rave Squad also do their best to reduce the number of places where
raves can be held. A restaurant owner who arranged techno evenings once a
week has said he has now stopped because of "pressure from the Rave Squad".
They said it was not good for my restaurant to play techno, it drew the
wrong public. He won't, however, criticise the methods of the police
openly. "If I say anything about the Rave Squad in an article, they will
make a lot of trouble for me. If the authorities withdraw my alcohol
licence I will have to close down. What could I sell then? orange juice and
soft drinks?"

Raves and anything the police think resembles them are to be opposed. But
are problems solved by driving them underground? "I think they are", says
Stefan Bergman. "Using junk in a public place give an appearance that
society accepts it. Between the two evils, it is better if there is less
visibility".

What do the users and sellers of illegal drugs think? Robert, who has been
in prison for drugs offences, is sceptical. "Nobody stops taking drugs
because of the Rave Squad. People learn to handle them, they keep on, but
are more careful. I don't carry drugs when I go to a club, I do things more
discretely"

Robert recognises, like many others who move in the Rave Squads hunting
grounds, who the individual police are and avoids them the best he can.
"The thing to do is not talk to them. And if they pull you in for a blood
test and find traces of drugs, just say you have no idea where they come
from. The ones the Rave Squad catch are green kids who don't know the score
and are so stupid they confess".

David agrees. The first time he came in contact with the police was at
Docklands. He was, he says, as high as a kite from a combination of
amphetamine and magic mushrooms when someone grabbed him, forced him into
the toilet and asked what he had taken. " I said something about mushrooms
and they said that was it for me. they took me to the station for
interrogation and I had to give a urine sample".

Davids urine showed traces of amphetamine, but he appealed against the fine
the police imposed and his case went to court. David denied he had
deliberately drugged himself and was acquitted. Stefan Bergman admits that
there are problems with evidence, but he emphasises that in his experience,
many are convicted.

"The majority admit that they have taken drugs. Evidence that relies on
blood and urine tests is doubtful, but I remember reading of one case where
someone was convicted despite denial. They had traces of two or three
different drugs with different means of ingestion. The court thought it
unlikely that the accused could have got these drugs inside himself by
mistake".

We ask the question one last time: is the Rave Squad effective or not? The
truth is, no one knows. The Crime Prevention Council are in the process of
evaluating the work of the Rave Squad during the first half of 1997 for the
National Police Authority. The council will assemble a profile of 200 young
people under 20 years old who were apprehended during this period. They
will follow up what happened after the Rave Squad arrested them and how the
social authorities came into the picture. It might then be possible to get
a clear picture of the Rave Squads work.

© Nojesguiden