SWEDISH SPYING SCANDAL

Sweden has a new spying scandal. Not at an international level but a governmental agency in Gothenburg was caught when it was spying unlawfully on its personnel.

Several car park attendants in Gothenburg have sued their employer, Gatubolaget, after the Swedish newspaper GT revealed last May they were being spied at during work by a hired detective agency.

Employers, who are checking out what their personnel is doing, is nothing new and according the law permitted. But the head of the company, Hans Adolfsson, forgot to register the hired detectives at the union, who wants 50 000 Crowns ($ 5000) as compensation for damaging the integrity of those suffered. Personnel must always be informed when they are being checked, for example.

The recent disclosure of the spying report reveals a bizarre view in modern life.

(It concerns here times of different days and X stands for several people)
07.55 we see a person exiting the main traffic building. A person walks towards the cage where all the company cars are parked and we decide to follow this person today. We call this person X.

09.08 X starts moving and is interested in some kind of van. The van receives a ticket.

09.11 X decides to continue along the Erik Dahlberg Street. It goes very slowly.

09.39 X goes via the Little Berg Street to the Skans Square. Here X is looking at a shopping-window.

09.46 X is still looking at the window of a jeweller.

10.09 Flag Street. One of our patrols sees X writing out a ticket.

10.39 X sits in the car with rolled down windows. X goes outside the car for a little while and writes several tickets. At this occasion X isn't wearing a hat.

14.44 X exits a fishing-shop and has bought something. X carries a bag. Unfortunately there are too many people around us and we cannot continue the pursuit.

10.24 one of our patrols discovers X at the Vega Street, behind the Vega Building. X is at a small pedestrian track, which leads to the Jungmans Street. We send a man who is walking his dog to check out what is happening.

11.17 X walks down Nordhems Street towards Nordenskiölds Street. X doesn't even look at the cars. We have watched X during the entire walk but have not noticed one glance at a car.

11.35 Nordenskiölds Street to Vega Street and back. It's striking that there is much walking without looking at cars.

11.42 we see X writing a ticket.

13.04 the car drives to the Berzelli Street, and then to the Sten Sture Street and stops before an ICA-Supermarket.

13.09 a person exits the supermarket in the company's uniform and drives to the Fabriks Street.

12.05 we speak with a person at the office who promises us to call X about a wrongly parked car at Fricks Street 4c. Our contact at the office is particular interested who X's fellow-passenger is and we send a patrol to the parking lot near the mentioned car. We state that there are hardly any parking possibilities in this area.

12.31 X arrives with Y in the car. They quickly look at the car in question and leave immediately. They start to check the parked cars, including the one of our colleague. They notice our colleague and the camera and ask what he is doing here. We had prepared an answer and they walked away. After X and his colleague have left, we end our investigation and contact the office.

Karl-Erik Gustavsson was the first car park attendant who demanded an explanation why it was him who was being followed. The spies gave Karl-Erik the name of D.

"D starts his working day clearly later than the schedule instructs, until up to one hour later. Besides that, D starts with a visit at a café for a cup of coffee. That is the first thing he does in his district. A few times it has occurred that D leaves his district 40 minutes before his break."

He also receives comments like "he walks a slow pace" and that he "walks slowly". That Karl-Erik suffers from an injury in his legs is not mentioned in the report.

Earlier this year Göteborg Posten (a large Swedish newspaper) published a series of articles in which car park attendants expressed themselves to feel pressured about the unwritten rule of writing at least two traffic-tickets per hour. After twenty years of service Karl-Erik has often received criticism writing out too few tickets. He also regularly expressed criticism that two tickets per hour wasn't realistic.

For Karl-Erik it's clear why they just spied on him and four colleagues. "That I've expressed myself critically in the press is surely a reason", he says in Göteborg Posten, August 26, 2002. According to Gustavsson the really low point was the fact that the spies believed he wasted time by checking the license plates of a car at the front and the back. "While in reality I was looking for a parking permit before I write out a ticket."

"D starts to check some cars at Kungs Square. We observe D during the checking of the cars. What we can see is that he checks first the front window and then the license plates in the front and the back. After that he immediately starts writing. From the moment he arrives at a car, it takes approximately two, three minutes before the ticket is placed at the front window. Is that according the rules?"

That even the spies don't do their work well is also shown by the report. "Our man at the spot is 80 percent sure that D is with a colleague. We follow the car via the strangest roads, all the way to Sahlgrenska. We decide to take the risk of a closer contact. After we are driving side to side, we notice quickly that they are the wrong people." Their report continues: "one of us sees a car park attendant approaching at Kungs Square. We follow the man but realize also this time it's the wrong person. We split up so two men can look for D in the familiar area's and one man patrols at and around Kungs Square."

The spies observed every step of Karl-Erik.
15.20 D saunters towards the canal, the Bazar Street. Simultaneously we see a colleague of D sunbathing at the Main Theatre. She crosses the canal and meets D. They talk with each other for quite a bit.

16.00 D goes towards Grönsaks Square. Along the way he enters a tobacco shop.

16.04 D walks up the Little Torg Street towards the Larm Street. Shortly after that he returns to Grönsaks Square and patrols there.

16.13 D walks over the Western Hamn Street and Sahlgrens Street where he works for a while.

16.20 drives into Grönsaks Street. The same woman steps out of the car. She walks at the Grönsaks Square and smokes a cigarette.

16.23 two more car park attendants join. They come from the Western Hamn Street. All three are standing with the car on Grönsaks Square talking. D is still at Sahlgrens Street. He sees them and waves.

The total cost of the rented detective agency, which carries the euphemistic name "Control Risk Scandinavia," lies at 3 529 894 Crowns ($ 353 000). The spies received 275 Crowns ($ 28) per hour or 45 000 per month ($4550) while the park attendants had to cope with sometimes as little as 13 000 - 14 000 Crowns per month ($1340 - $1440).

Three of the remaining car park attendants have reported the incident as a working injury; two others have accepted new work.

© 2002 Dennis Rodie

The original Dutch version appeared in Kleintje Muurkrant on October 11th 2002