Emergencies and safety in Sweden — who to call, what to expect

When to call 112

Call 112 for any life-threatening situation: someone is unconscious, bleeding heavily, having a heart attack or stroke, or there is a fire, a violent crime in progress, or an accident with serious injuries. Operators speak Swedish and English; many also speak Arabic, Persian, Somali, or Spanish.

The operator dispatches the right service (ambulance, fire, police) and stays on the line for as long as you need. Do not hang up until told to. If you are not in immediate danger but the situation feels serious, call 112 anyway and let the operator decide.

1177 — non-emergency medical advice

1177 Vårdguiden is a 24/7 nurse-staffed advice line for any medical question that is not a 112 emergency. Call when a child has a high fever, when you are not sure if a sprain needs an X-ray, or when a chronic condition is acting up. Nurses speak Swedish and English; interpreters are available for other languages.

The same number runs the digital service at 1177.se where you can book appointments, view your medical records, see vaccination history, and renew prescriptions. Login is via BankID or Freja eID.

114 14 — non-urgent police

Call 114 14 to report a non-urgent crime (a stolen bicycle, a break-in that is no longer in progress, a vandalised car), to ask a question, or to follow up on an existing report. The line is staffed by police-trained operators who can take a report over the phone or schedule a station appointment.

You can also report many crimes online at polisen.se without calling. Use online reporting for theft, lost property, and identity fraud — it is faster and you get a case number immediately.

What to expect from the Swedish police

Sweden's police (Polisen) operate as a public service. Officers are routinely unarmed in some contexts and carry sidearms in others, but the working norm in everyday encounters is calm, English-speaking, and procedurally clear. You can call them about lost property, locked-out flats, neighbour disputes, suspicious activity, or anything in between — they will tell you what is and is not in their remit.

Trust in Swedish police is high by international comparison: surveys put it consistently above 70%. If you grew up in a country where the police were a force to be feared or avoided, this is one of the bigger cultural adjustments. Calling 112 or 114 14 will not get you in trouble for being a foreigner; nobody asks for your immigration status when you report a crime as a victim.

BankID fraud and scam reporting

BankID-based scams (someone calls pretending to be your bank or Skatteverket and tries to get you to BankID-sign a transaction) are the most common consumer-fraud vector in Sweden. The defence is procedural: real banks and government agencies never ask you to BankID-sign anything in response to a phone call they initiated.

If you have BankID-signed something you did not understand, call your bank's 24-hour fraud line immediately, freeze the account, and report it to the police via 114 14 or polisen.se. Speed matters — banks reverse genuine fraud, but only if you report fast.

Home break-in: what to do in the first hour

• Do not enter the property if anyone might still be inside. Call 112 from outside.
• Once it is safe, photograph everything before moving it. Insurance claims need the photos.
• Make a list of what is missing — serial numbers for electronics, descriptions for jewellery.
• File a police report at polisen.se or 114 14. You get a case number on the spot; insurance needs this.
• Contact your home insurer (hemförsäkring) within 24 hours. Most policies have a deadline.
• Change locks if keys were taken. Many landlords share the cost with the tenant.

Wider crisis information

Krisinformation.se is the Swedish authorities' central crisis-information channel — power outages, severe weather, public-health alerts, and large-scale incidents are all summarised there in plain language. The free app (Krisinformation) sends push notifications for serious local events.

Sweden also has a population-wide test alarm (Hesa Fredrik) that sounds on the first non-holiday Monday of March, June, September, and December at 15:00. If you hear the same siren outside those times, switch on Sveriges Radio P4 (the public-radio emergency channel) for instructions.