Once upon a time, the Swedish police education was purely vocational, owned and operated by the Police themselves. Since the year 2000, it is a contract education owned by the Police and run by academic institutions. The result of the contemporary setting is a hybrid of vocational training and academic education, leading to tensions between educational traditions and organizational logics. In this setting the police organization is sometimes accused of being uninterested in academic knowledge. However, initiatives to strengthen academic knowledge of police officers have been identified from both the academic system and from the Swedish Police. The initiatives contribute to what we interpret as an academic densification of the Swedish police education.

This presentation is based on interviews with individuals holding key positions in Swedish police education, combined with analysis of documents related to police education. It consists of three interconnected parts: i), the story of how the Swedish police education has been academically densified is outlined, ii), the arguments for and against academically educated police officers and a full-scale academization of police education are identified, and iii), the field of stakeholder positions towards the academization of Swedish police education is identified. The outcome of the presentation provides insight into who holds the privilege of problem formulation and how it influences the design of contemporary Swedish police education.