An internal memo from the police is covered by a news paper article Får interna direktiv: Ange inte signalement. The article does not contain the entire memo, but it does cite a few key parts of it.
The internal memo was dated September 15, 2015 and signed by police press-communications personnel Wolf Gyllander and Carina Skagerlind. The directive said that color, ethnic origin or nationality should not be externally communicated.
The article says:
I brevet beskrivs vilka rutiner myndigheten ska ha kring så kallade händelsenotiser som kommuniceras till allmänheten. Det handlar om allt ifrån lättare trafikolyckor till grova brott som personrån, misshandel och mord.
[The letter describes the procedures Authority should have about the so-called event notifications that are communicated to the public. This includes everything from light traffic accidents to serious crimes such as robbery, assault and murder.]
The newspaper interviewed Gyllander about the memo, who acknowledged writing it.
This is the reporter describing a section of the memo:
Efter det följer beskrivningar om hur brottsskeenden ska kommuniceras utåt. Vid vardagsbrottslighet, till exempel inbrott och stölder, så ska informationen utåt inte innehålla ”signalementsuppgifter som längd, hudfärg, etniskt ursprung eller nationalitet med mera”, skriver polisens pressavdelning.
Rough translation
After that follows descriptions about how different crimes should be communicated externally. For everyday crimes, for example burglary and theft, the police press department writes that external information should not include "identifying information such as length, color, ethnic origin et cetra".
As to the reasoning, the article continues:
Ett av skälen bakom skrivelsen uppges vara att polisen kan uppfattas som rasistisk: ”/.../ Då polisen inte är rasistisk och heller inte ska uppfattas så, så gäller från och med nu instruktionerna [i det här direktivet]”
Translated
One of the reasons behind the directives is said to be that the police could [otherwise] be perceived as racist: "/.../ Because the Police is not racist, and thus shouldn't be perceived as such, the directives [in this memo] should from now on be followed"
Gyllander agreed that there can sometimes be a benefit to providing such information, but that they wanted to strike a balance between the benefit and appearing racist, so such information would not be routinely communicated.
Reporter: Men kan det inte vara bra med ett signalement om någon haft ett inbrott i sin bostad och flera vittnen beskriver en individ med ett visst utseende?
Gyllander: Om du fortsätter att läsa instruktionen så säger vi att när vi vill ha in det vi är ute efter så ska vi kunna göra det.
In English
Reporter: But, isn't it beneficial to provide this description when for example there has been a burglary and several witnesses describe an individual with a certain look?
Gyllander: If you keep reading the directives, you'll see that we do say that if we need that kind of information [from the public] we are allowed to do that.
