Sammendrag I denne artikkelen tar vi for oss en viktig funksjon i den norske Nærpolitireformen, nemlig «etterretning». Vi forklarer her hva etterretningsstyrt politiarbeid er, og hvordan det er tenkt operasjonalisert i Norge gjennom Etterretningsdoktrinen. Denne doktrinen medfører, slik vi ser det, vesentlige endringer i politirollen. Vi identifiserer i artikkelen noen av disse endringene og diskuterer hva som kreves av politigeneralisten for å leve opp til denne nye rollen.
Abstract Like many other public institutions, Danish police is currently part of a movement towards further direct involvement of the so-called civic society. Civic society has long been recognized for its resources that differ from that of authorities as the police. The question of exactly why and how to cooperate effectively with civic society in Danish police forces, is not clearly answered. The aim of this article is to answer some of these questions by combining research with three cases. There are no context-independent formulas, the article argues. There is, however, a method of contextualizing involvement of civic society within the police force; by transferring ‘policing’ to a societal responsibility, policing becomes something authorities does with and not for civic society. The article presents a framework on how Danish police can initiate policing processes in local communities: We identified three policing platforms within which the police can navigate the process of policing with civic society and other authorities, institutions or organizations.
Abstract Research has shown that well-functioning whistleblowing within police agencies is important, because these agencies play a key role in society. The perceived risk of retaliation after expressing criticism is the most important factor that an employee considers when deciding whether to act as a whistleblower. Different individuals and different units hold different views about the risk of retaliation after acting as a whistleblower. The police management in general has a lower perception of the risk of retaliation than other employees have. There is a huge difference between the officially presented picture of a favorable climate in the organization in which employees feel free to express criticism, and the perception of the matter that most employees have. The differences are connected to the presence of impression-management strategies that are intended to maximize the good image of the organization, and are the main reason that whistleblowing is not appreciated, despite assurances from the management that it is important.
Abstract ‘Knarkrondellen’, which translates to ‘the drug roundabout’, is a known hot spot for drug trading in Malmö and the police have implemented several measures to fight the open drug market. This paper sets out to investigate the impact that the police interventions, namely enhanced police foot patrols, improved street lighting and the installation of a surveillance camera, exert on the crime rates and the fear of crime at the roundabout. Quantitative data from the police register of reported crimes and police surveys are analyzed. The findings show that the police interventions did not reach the desired preventative effect on crime in the given study period and possibly indicate the occurrence of displacement. Nor did the citizens’ feeling of safety and perception of the problems change significantly as a result of the interventions.
Independence and integrity in research are prerequisites for objective and ethically responsible research. At the same time, image promotion plays a significant role in many contemporary organisations, and this might influence how research is carried out and presented. The article suggests that organisational branding is significant to understand the conditions in which researchers conduct and present critical research on powerful organisations. In this article we explore what prevents researchers from challenging the police’s brand and how researchers can act when their results do so. The results are based on several sources of data, such as field notes, public records, media statements, research reports and interviews with researchers who have presented critical research.
Sammendrag Casestudien undersøker hvordan samlokalisering av nødmeldingssentralene til politi, brann og helse påvirker læring og utvikling av transaksjonsminnesystem (TMS) på operativt nivå horisontalt mellom etater. Datamaterialet er innhentet fra ni norske nødmeldingssentraler med ulike samarbeidsbetingelser og geografi og er kategorisert i modellene SAMLOK, SPREDT og NÆR. Analysen av kvalitative intervjudata, observasjons- og medlyttdata viser at læring i de ulike etatenes nødmeldingssentraler skjer situert i et praksisfellesskap mellom operatører under og i etterkant av hendelser. Samlokalisering i SAMLOK ga et teknisk-organisatorisk læringsmiljø horisontalt mellom nødmeldingssentralene som utvidet praksisfellesskapet og økte operatørenes TMS relatert til de andre nødetatenes behov, kompetanse og oppgaver. Nødmeldingssentraler som er SPREDT- eller NÆR-lokalisert, har et etatsspesifikk praksisfellesskap og begrensede muligheter til systematisk erfaringslæring og refleksjon på tvers av etatene. Ledere som møtes regelmessig, kan være pådrivere for erfaringsdeling og kunnskapsdeling horisontalt mellom nødmeldingssentraler.
Abstract This article addresses the perceptions and experiences of young ethnic minorities in Oslo and their frequent encounters with the police at the high schools they attend in the eastern and southern suburbs. These police meetings are mainly aimed at preventing crime, such as drugs at schools, and building trust with students and staff. Scholars, however, have debated how frequent controls and policing in more deprived areas inhabited by a large proportion of minorities can have negative effects on procedural justice. In this article, I demonstrate that the youth attending these schools can experience fear, stigma and injustice in the heavy presence of police on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. I argue that these encounters between youth and the police are key to address in order to inform our understanding of mistrust towards the police and challenge strategies of policing.
Abstract Penal provisions designed to cover repeated and severe abuse in close relationships have been in effect in Norway for the past decade (section 219 of the former Criminal Code, sections 282/283 of the revised Criminal Code). This article evaluates these legal provisions, and in particular, explores the struggle of the police with severe domestic violence. Specially trained police officers and others working in law enforcement, such as prosecutors and judges, have participated as informants. It is insufficient merely to read the legal text to understand what it criminalizes—it is necessary to examine the legal sources. According to the Supreme Court of Norway, a regime of control and violence in a close relationship must be evident. To identify such a regime, the police cannot pay exclusive attention to the specific incidents of physical violence but must focus on what occurs between these events. The totality and complexity of domestic abuse, including psychological violence, is expected to play a central role in police investigation. However, this kind of policing challenges the police role. Police interviews in these cases require particular patience, understanding, empathy and calm. The article will prove that a large proportion of the investigation ends in dismissed cases, but the author will argue that law enforcement is only one side of policing. The police may achieve just as much by means of victim support and prevention measures.
Abstract Police trainees have to be prepared for future job demands and challenges. Personality plays an important role in stress management. The first assessment of a longitudinal investigation was conducted among 103 Swedish police trainees to study their personality changes and mental health responses in first two weeks after intake. Fifty-two of these trainees, who participated in the second assessment, were included in the analysis. The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was used to measure personality, and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) was used to measure mental health. A multiple regression analysis was performed with personality scores from the first assessment as independent variables and SCL-90-R scores as dependent variables. Over two years, minor changes were found in the police trainees’ personality characteristics, which seemingly fit the demands of policing and are potentially valuable in the trainees’ future careers. Personality characteristics are predictors of mental health at the end of university training.
Research on the police force has typically been occupied with seeking out commonalities between police officers rather than differences. This has amounted to a vast volume of literature on the shared occupational culture of police officers that has pointed to several problematic aspects of policing. However, in this paper, I argue for the value of studying individual police officers who are doing things differently from their colleagues as a method for actually engaging with these problematic aspects. To demonstrate the viability of this methodological approach to police research, I draw on an encounter with a particular police officer from my own empirical work. I argue that conducting case studies of such police officers and describing their practices and attitudes can be a valuable contribution to the development of better and more socially just policing. These case studies of how things can be done differently can aid in imagining new and better police practices.
Research on the police force has typically been occupied with seeking out commonalities between police officers rather than differences. This has amounted to a vast volume of literature on the shared occupational culture of police officers that has pointed to several problematic aspects of policing. However, in this paper, I argue for the value of studying individual police officers who are doing things differently from their colleagues as a method for actually engaging with these problematic aspects. To demonstrate the viability of this methodological approach to police research, I draw on an encounter with a particular police officer from my own empirical work. I argue that conducting case studies of such police officers and describing their practices and attitudes can be a valuable contribution to the development of better and more socially just policing. These case studies of how things can be done differently can aid in imagining new and better police practices.
ABSTRACT In this paper, I describe widely used methods in Scandinavian police research, discuss strengths and weaknesses and suggest methods for future police research. Thick, in-depth descriptions and closeness to the field are strengths in today’s police research, whereas vulnerability to the Hawthorne effect, the lack of representativeness and limited possibilities for causal claims are weaknesses. I suggest new methods for improving police research: natural variation designs, vignette studies and field experiments. In addition, extended use of an existing data source, register data, is discussed. Examples are given from police research and connected research fields, including research on other professions. Greater methodological variation can address new questions in future police research and widen the horizons of Scandinavian police research. Especially, new methods and data can improve the possibilities for making causal claim and improve the external validity.
Place-based policing has attracted a substantial amount of attention, not least in relation to hot spot policing.Such policing efforts depend on geographical analysis of where crime takes place.However, while it is well known that police crime data suffer from many limitations, less is known about the extent to which the geographical reliability of these data constitutes a problem.The present study attempts to quantify the extent of this problem by exploiting the fact that in Sweden there is an alternative, and more reliable, source of geographical data for incidents of arson.The study compares the locations for car arson incidents as recorded by the police and the rescue services, respectively.The resulting quantification of differences shows that the median error for the police data is 83 meters.This presents a potential pitfall for geographical analysis, both for researchers using police data and for the police themselves in their operational and strategic analysis of crime.
Abstract This article analyses how Danish police students assess the attractiveness of different police assignments and how these assessments change during the education. The study is based on 10 focus groups with 50 police students, half of them recently started while the other half are within two weeks of finishing the education. Especially the recently started police students present a hedonist orientation towards assignments characterized by action and adrenaline, whereas the police students at the end of the education lean somewhat more towards immersing themselves in more complex assignments. Overall, whether a police assignment gives space for professional autonomy or discretion in the work makes a great difference for how it is valued. Although the findings, in line with most research on police culture, show several signs of the students preferring “outside” police work with a concrete output, there are also signs of a widely shared interest in the opportunity of combining abstract and concrete police work.
