The notion that the police need to work in interorganizational partnerships has been well-established for decades, although the task has proved difficult. Based on interviews with representatives from strategically selected CSOs, this study examines encouraging and hindering factors for collaboration with the police. It also shows that the statements of the three CSOs echo previous research where the police is involved. The study concludes that firstly, the police must recognize the CSOs as trustworthy and consider their activities to be of police interest. Secondly, the CSOs must manage to penetrate the police organization's physical and cultural boundaries in order to offer their services. Thirdly, a division of labour must be established where the benefits of collaboration are evident for both parties. Fourthly, collaboration must be organizationally institutionalized. It is worth noting that not all CSOs strive for closer collaboration; some prefer to keep a distance.

The Swedish police has been categorized as a pre-profession (Brante, 2014) due to a lack of a clearly defined scientific base but also with a substantive and organizational approach to the academic system. By interviewing all Swedish police officers with a PhD, this study aims to investigate aspects of the relationship between academic and professional logic of policing, something that has been described as “two worlds thinking” (Hallenberg, 2012). The narratives of the PhD-police officers embody the pioneering work of such two worlds thinking. With some exceptions, the interviewees experience difficulties in converting their doctorate into careers within the Swedish Police Authority (SPA). Their research and acquired skills are perceived as uninteresting, and sometimes threatening. This generates friction and exclusion. Instead, usability is identified in relation to the police training and/or within the academic system.

 Two analytical tracks that indicate incompatibility between the police organisation and academic knowledge has been identified.

1.      Almost all interviewees express phantom pains after leaving the profession. This has been interpreted as a type of disengaging process that has been described in social exit-processes (Ebaugh, 1988).

2.      The lacking ability to transform academic knowledge and skills into something useful indicate an organization where such knowledge can be interpreted as organizational pollution (Douglas, 1966), uncapable to be integrated as “pure”. By complementing the interviewees with an analysis of their PhD-thesis, the actions taken by the SPA can be understood as a procedure of social closure (Weber, 1922) where the definition of the police profession is protected.

As an important pillar of building sustainable peace after protractedviolent conflict, security sector reform (SSR) has the objective to preparestate security actors, who often have been active conflict participants,for work within the frameworks of democracy, adherence to human andcivil rights, and civilian rule. A major component of SSR is the re-trainingand re-education of local police to improve their relationship with thelocal communities. This relationship has often been severely strained byhuman rights abuses committed by police against community membersduring the conflict, and it continues to be put to the test in fragile post-accord environments by persisting high levels of violence. However,research on how to improve that relationship, particularly from abottom-up  perspective,  remains  scarce.  This  study  analyses  thedynamics of the relationship between the police and communities inthe transition period from war to peace in Colombia, a countrytormented by continued violence even after the signing of the 2016peace agreement that was to set an end to the country’s decades ofinternal conflict. Based on semi-structured interviews conducted duringthe fall of 2019, it applies the theoretical lens of the relational peaceframework that approaches peace in terms of relationships betweendifferent sets of interdependent actors. Thefindings indicate that therelationship between the communities and the police has not reachedsatisfactory levels of relational peace, suggesting a set-back in security-related peacebuilding. The paper concludes with recommendations,including from interviewees, on how to improve that relationship.

AbstractScenario-based exercises employing fgurants are frequently used in vocationaleducation worldwide. The purpose of these exercises is to help the students developpractical knowledge and skills on their way to becoming professional practitioners.While previous research often concentrates on the exercises’ design, level of realismand complexity, there is a knowledge gap regarding the use of fgurants, not leastwhen it comes to advantages and disadvantages with diferent fgurant types. The aimof this study is to investigate how, why and in what type of exercises fgurants are usedin Swedish police education. The empirical material derives from interviews with teachers, students, and fgurants from fve Swedish police education programmes, focusingon the interviewees’ experience of the use of internal, external, and semi-external fgurants in distinctive exercises. The three fgurant types were attributed specifc efectson the implementation of exercises and were perceived as having diferent advantagesand disadvantages depending on the purpose of each exercise, the impact being particularly noticeable in relation to levels of realism, permissive environments, the counterpart perspective, safety concerns, feedback, and simulation competence. The choiceof fgurant type has an equally important impact on the outcome of the scenariosas other factors, and there is a need for more research on the use of fgurants in relationto student learning.

Academic drift within the police education and the police profession in Sweden

In this presentation we outline a research project that focus on two different police student groups who contribute to an influx of academic knowledge, resources and experience into the Swedish police training and everyday police work. The first group consists of professional police officers who have chosen to study recently established courses in the academic discipline police work on bachelor or master level. The second group are police students who have already pursued and obtained an academic degree and who subsequently apply for and are admitted to police training. The purpose of this project is to design a study that provides in-depth knowledge of who these students are and in what ways they contribute to academicize a police training and police profession that isn’t fully integrated in the academic system. Theoretically, we use the concept of academic drift to understand how professional education and work on different levels is affected and resemble characteristics and organizational principles from the academic system. In this project we focus on the student-level of academic drift in order to understand how students with academic experience and resources relate to police training and work and how police organizations handles and utilizes such experiences and resources.     

Det internationella biståndet som vi känner det idag är en internationellt formulerad efterkrigsidé. Enkelt uttryckt bygger tanken på att en orättvis global fördelning av resurser kan avhjälpas av de länder som har det bättre ställt. Efter andra världskriget talades det i termer av ”massfattigdom” och ”befolkningsexplosion” för att beskriva den fattiga delen av världen. Som ett litet obetydligt land och med argumentet att man egentligen saknade kolonialhistoria öppnades nu en möjlighet för Sverige att som hjälpande land positionera sig i internationella sammanhang. Och det skulle man. Men hur skulle Sverige ta sig an frågan – denna svindlande uppgift – att bidra till internationellt bistånd? Hur skulle det rent praktiskt gå till och vad kunde Sverige göra för att möta tillsynes oändliga behov? Om detta handlar En svindlande uppgift: Sverige och biståndet 1945–1975.

Bridging theory and practice, scenario-based exercises with figurants is a common learning tool in vocational training (Gonczi, 2013; Dieckmann 2009; Diamond et al., 2011). However, to deliver the desired outcome, several pedagogical challenges must be met. While previous research often focuses on the exercises’ design, level of realism and complexity (Gonzci, 2013), there is a lack of knowledge regarding the figurants’ role in the context (Jonsson & Lif, 2021; Fragnière et al., 2019). The study’s purpose is to develop this knowledge by mapping how figurants are used and what significance and challenges they bring. Theoretically, we derive from a development of Aristoteles’ principles of knowledge in terms of episteme, techne and phronesis (Thomassen, 2007) and lean on Dreyfus’ and Dreyfus’ (1986) to explain how these exercises help students develop professional praxis. Methods used are participatory observation and interviews with students, teachers and figurants regarding experiences of scenario-based exercises in Swedish police education. The empirical material identifies three types of figurants generating specific benefits and challenges; as well as difficulties in matching; unclear expectations and insufficient feedback. Several learning objectives relate to scenario-based exercises with figurants. However, a strategic selection and use of figurants, adequate preparations and understanding of their role are imperative in reaching the desired outcome.

Polisutbildningen innefattar praktiska figurantövningar för att ge studenterna handlingskunskap – fronesis – där praktiska och teoretiskakunskaper länkas samman i handling. Tidigare forskning visar attfigurantövningar är uppskattade och positiva för studenternasinlärning. Figurantens roll är avgörande för övningarnas utfall,men om detta saknas forskning, vilket denna studie bidrar till. Studiens syfte är att belysa användandet av figuranter på polisutbildningen. Tyngdpunkten ligger vid det pedagogiska användandetav figuranter men inkluderar även omgärdande administration.Följande frågeställningar har guidat studien: Vilka skäl finns för attanvända figuranter – och olika typer av figuranter? Vilka pedagogiskaoch administrativa utmaningar kan urskiljas i användandet av figuranter? Vad krävs för att figurantövningarna ska ge tänkt utfall? Metoden är kvalitativ och datainsamlingen har skett genom intervjuer med lärare, polisstudenter, administratörer och figuranter samtdeltagande observation av figurantövningar. Resultaten urskiljer tre figuranttyper: interna som är andra polisstudenter och kända för de övande, externa som är inhyrd personaloch okända för de övande, och semi-externa som är polisstudenter frånandra klasser och årskurser och i hög grad okända, men liknar deövande i ålder, kunskap etcetera. Respektive figuranttyp lämpar sigolika väl beroende på övningens önskade utfall i termer av realism ochupplevelsen av motpartsperspektiv, varför det finns skäl att fundera påvilken typ som ska användas när. De administrativa utmaningarnahandlar huvudsakligen om tid, ekonomi, schemaläggning, ansvarsfördelning, rutiner och rekrytering. De pedagogiska utmaningarna kanfrämst kopplas till figuranternas intresse, motivation och förmåga attagera och ta regi, liksom i förståelsen för rollen och uppgiften. För attfigurantövningen ska ge önskat utfall krävs således planering ocheftertanke i rekrytering, urval och instruerande av figuranter ochstudenter, liksom effektiva, kända och fungerande rutiner föradministration och kommunikation mellan berörda aktörer.