The True Story Behind Netflix’s Swedish Period Drama The New Force

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Netflix is transporting audiences to 1950s Sweden with The New Force (Skiftet), which is its first Swedish period drama. The series tells the story of a significant but often forgotten moment in Swedish history: when the country began training and employing its first female police officers.

Set completely in 1958 Stockholm, The New Force tells the story of a small group of women who are Sweden’s first female police recruits, with a focus on Carin (Josefin Asplund), Siv (Agnes Rase), and Ingrid (Malin Persson). Carin is driven by a powerful belief in fairness. Siv is determined and hopes to become a detective. Ingrid, who is more quiet and cautious, wonders if she has what it takes to complete her training. The characters in the series are made up and aren’t based on real people; they’re designed to capture the feeling of the time period.

Rather than receiving praise for being pioneers, these women face ridicule from the media, are dismissed by their coworkers, and are disrespected by society as a whole. As the show describes, they are compelled to patrol the streets of the capital while wearing skirts that feel rough and irritating, “like sandpaper against their thighs.” They must deal with both a high-crime area of Stockholm-Klara-and the strong, existing prejudice against gender equality within the police force.

The show follows officers as they perform their everyday jobs-like patrolling, making arrests, and investigating crimes-but also delves into their personal lives, showing how the stress of the job affects them at home. Their first big challenge arises when they discover a murdered sex worker in a river, launching a risky investigation filled with misleading clues and surprising discoveries.

Here’s what to know about the real story behind The New Force, premiering Oct. 3.

The police sisters

In 1908, Stockholm introduced its first polissyster, or “police sisters,” such as Agda Halldin, Maria Andersson, and Erica Ström. These women were initially hired on a trial basis and given specific, limited duties: they dealt with cases concerning women and children, searched female suspects, and supervised female prisoners. A large number of them had experience in nursing or social work, which led people to see their positions as primarily a support role, rather than a full police officer position.

The trial run proved successful, and by 1910, other cities, including Gothenburg, started hiring female police officers. For many years, the term polissyster-literally ‘police sister’-highlighted that while society recognized women’s role in law enforcement, they weren’t considered equal to their male counterparts and couldn’t fulfill the same duties or work in the same capacities.

Their responsibilities weren’t formally broadened until 1930. Starting then, female police officers were permitted to search women’s homes, gather intelligence, be present during questioning in sex crime investigations, and take statements from both rape victims and women arrested for abortions or other offenses considered moral at the time. They were also authorized to interview female witnesses, watch interrogations of suspected prostitutes, and assist with surveillance under supervision. In 1944, they received their initial formal training inside a police station, and in 1949, they began being accepted into the police academy for basic training. See note.

The polissyster title was discontinued in 1954, and female police officers were formally given the same job title as men. However, even with this change in name, their duties stayed mostly the same, focusing primarily on investigations and cases concerning women and children.

The year that changed the police force

The major shift happened in the fall of 1957 when women were accepted into the Swedish National Police Academy with the same requirements as men for the very first time. This was different from 1949, when the academy only offered basic training through the restricted “polissyster” (police sister) program. In 1957, women were able to train to become fully qualified police officers. The next year, 1958-the time period shown in The New Force-the first female graduates started patrolling the streets in uniform, working alongside their male counterparts. One of these officers was Monika Kvarngard, who was assigned to Klara, which was known as Stockholm’s most dangerous area and was chosen as the location for the series.

Even with these advancements, things weren’t ideal. These women encountered skepticism from coworkers, were often talked down to by the media, and were required to wear uniforms – like skirts – that hindered their ability to move freely, becoming a representation of the challenges they faced while adjusting. Throughout the 1960s, there was considerable public discussion regarding women working on patrol. In 1964, the National Police Board, alongside the Swedish Police Association, initiated a trial period where women were assigned to specific roles, again restricting their duties to investigative work, scouting, and security patrols, excluding them from standard uniformed service. Many female officers were unhappy with this setup.

Women didn’t have the same opportunities as men in the Swedish police force until 1971. That’s when the Ministry of Justice allowed them to perform regular police duties, and the National Police Board officially ended a trial program. After that, male and female officers received the same training, equipment, and pay, with both sexes having equal roles. This solidified women’s place in the Swedish police and brought an end to many years of limitations – both in practice and in how things appeared. Currently, women make up approximately 35 to 38% of all police officers in Sweden, as stated by researcher Patrik Thunholm.

The female uniform

A significant issue for the first female officers was what they wore. Back in the 1950s, women weren’t allowed to wear the same uniforms as men-there needed to be a clear difference based on gender. So, a “skirt-pants” design was developed. This combined the look of a skirt with the usefulness of pants, giving them more freedom to move around because skirts weren’t considered practical for work in the field.

The custom uniform jacket didn’t have practical chest pockets – this was intentional, to avoid drawing attention when officers used notebooks and pens. Hats were updated to work with a variety of hairstyles. Work equipment differed from what men used; instead of sabers, women received shorter batons, and their protective vests hadn’t been properly adjusted to fit the female form. Uniforms were therefore not a one-size-fits-all solution.

It wasn’t until 1974 that officers began wearing full-length pants. This change wasn’t just about making movement easier; it also represented progress in gender equality within the police force. By removing visual differences in uniform, it emphasized that women and men could handle the same responsibilities while patrolling the streets of Sweden.

What’s the meaning of the show’s original title, Skiftet?

The series was originally titled Skiftet, which carries a deeper meaning than its international title, The New Force. In Swedish, Skiftet translates to “the change” or “the transition,” and it can describe both significant societal shifts and the routine change of a work shift. The original title, unlike the English version, highlights the process of change itself.

This showcases the story’s complexity: it covers both the arrival of women in what was historically a male-dominated job and how the police force itself had to adjust. It also links significant historical events to the daily experiences of police officers, emphasizing that, at its heart, the story is about the slow-and frequently challenging-journey of transformation.

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2025-10-03 18:07