Netflix is taking viewers back to 1950s Sweden with The New Force (Skiftet), its first Swedish period drama. The series dramatizes a groundbreaking yet often overlooked chapter in Swedish history: the introduction of the country’s first female police officers.
Set entirely in 1958 Stockholm, The New Force follows a small group of women who graduate as Sweden’s pioneering police recruits, most notably Carin (Josefin Asplund), Siv (Agnes Rase), and Ingrid (Malin Persson). Carin is guided by a strong sense of justice. Siv is ambitious, aiming to become a detective. Ingrid, the most reserved, questions whether she can make it through her probation. The series’ characters are fictional and not based on real individuals, meant to invoke the spirit of the era.
Instead of being celebrated as trailblazers, these women are mocked by the press, underestimated by their colleagues, and belittled by society at large. Forced to patrol the streets of the capital in skirts that chafe “like sandpaper against their thighs,” as the show’s synopsis notes, the women must navigate not only one of Stockholm’s most crime-heavy districts—Klara—but also the deeply ingrained resistance to gender equality in law enforcement.
Alongside their daily duties—patrolling the streets, making arrests, and carrying out investigations—the show explores their personal struggles, revealing how the pressures of the job spill over into their private lives. Their first major test comes with the discovery of a murdered sex worker whose body is found in a river, a case that pushes them into a dangerous investigation marked by false leads and shocking revelations.
Here’s what to know about the real story behind The New Force, premiering Oct. 3.
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The police sisters
In 1908, Stockholm hired its first so-called polissyster, or “police sisters,” including Agda Halldin, Maria Andersson, and Erica Ström. These pioneers were admitted on a trial basis and had limited responsibilities: handling cases involving women and children, conducting searches of female suspects, and overseeing female prisoners. Many came from nursing or social work backgrounds, reinforcing the perception that their role was primarily supportive rather than fully police-oriented.
The experiment was deemed successful, and by 1910, the police sisters began to be employed in other cities, such as Gothenburg. For decades, the title polissyster served as a reminder that, although society acknowledged women’s presence among the police, they could not occupy the same spaces or perform the same functions as men.
It wasn’t until 1930 that their duties were officially expanded. From that year on, police sisters were allowed to participate in searches of women’s homes, conduct reconnaissance, be present for interrogations in sexual crime cases, and receive reports from victims of rape as well as from women arrested for pursuing abortions or other “moral offenses.” They could also interview female witnesses, observe interrogations of suspected prostitutes, and participate in supervised surveillance activities. In 1944, they received their first formal training within a police station, and in 1949, they began to be admitted to attend the police academy for basic training.
The polissyster title was abolished in 1954, and women police officers were officially recognized under the same title as their male counterparts. Despite the symbolic change, their functions remained largely unchanged and restricted to investigative work and cases involving women and children.
The year that changed the police force
The real turning point came in the autumn of 1957, when women were admitted to the Swedish National Police Academy under the same conditions as men for the first time. Unlike in 1949, when academy attendance involved only basic training within the limited “polissyster” program, the 1957 admissions allowed women to train as full police officers. The following year, 1958—the period depicted in The New Force—the first female graduates began patrolling the streets in uniform, side by side with their male colleagues. Among them was Monika Kvarngard, assigned to Klara, then considered Stockholm’s most violent district and the setting chosen for the series.
Despite this progress, the reality was not so rosy: these women faced distrust from colleagues, were treated condescendingly by the press, and had to wear uniforms that restricted movement, such as skirts that became a symbol of the difficulties they had adapting. Throughout the 1960s, there was much public debate over women on patrol. In 1964, the National Police Board, together with the Swedish Police Association, launched a trial assigning women to special tasks, once again limiting their work to investigative, reconnaissance, and security patrol duties, without participation in regular uniformed service. Many female officers were dissatisfied with the arrangement.
Formal equality was only achieved in 1971, when the Ministry of Justice authorized women to serve in external police duties, and the National Police Board ended the experimental program. From then on, officers of both sexes had the same roles, training, equipment, and pay benefits, consolidating the presence of women in the Swedish police force and ending decades of symbolic and practical restrictions. Today, women represent around 35 to 38% of police officers in Sweden, according to researcher Patrik Thunholm.
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The female uniform
One of the most visible challenges faced by the first female officers was their uniform. In the 1950s, women could not wear the same attire as men; the gender distinction had to be clear. A “skirt-pants” design was created, combining the appearance of a traditional skirt with the practicality of pants, allowing greater freedom of movement since skirts were deemed unsuitable for fieldwork.
The uniform jacket was custom-made but lacked functional chest pockets to prevent unwanted glances when using a notebook and pen. Hats were redesigned to accommodate different hairstyles, while work equipment included shortened batons, in contrast to the sabers used by men, and protective vests that were not yet adapted to the female body.
The switch to full-length pants came only in 1974. Beyond improving mobility, the transition marked a step forward in gender equality within the police, eliminating visual distinctions and reinforcing that women could perform the same duties as men on the streets of Sweden.
What’s the meaning of the show’s original title, Skiftet?
The series’ original title, Skiftet, adds a layer of meaning beyond the international translation, The New Force. In Swedish, Skiftet means “the change” or “the transition” and can refer both to large social transformations and to the daily reality of a work shift. Unlike the English version, the original title emphasizes the process of change.
It reflects the multiple layers of the narrative: the entry of the first women into a traditionally male profession and the adaptations within the police force. At the same time, it connects major historical movements to the everyday reality of police work, highlighting that the story is ultimately about the gradual—and often difficult—process of change.
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