In this article I address the question of whether there has been a punitive turn in Swedish crime policy or not. Since the punitive turn is connected to the downfall of the rehabilitative ideal, and to what David Garland has termed penal welfar-ism, I make my argument with reference to these phenomena in Sweden. I claim that there were two rationales behind the penal welfare state and the rehabilita-tive ideal in Sweden: a social liberal rationale built on paternalism and interven-tionism, and a social democratic rationale built on Marxist class analysis. My argument is that while penal welfarism is still operating in Sweden, the social liberal rationale has been discarded. This means that the social democratic rationale built on Marxist class analysis is now the single dominating force behind Swedish penal welfarism. The argument for a punitive turn in Sweden therefore has no support.

Crime prevention and victim of crime assistance through collaboration

Missing People, sports associations, religious communities, women's shelters, and crime victim shelters are examples of non-governmental organizations that collaborate with the police. Not only in crime prevention, but also in victim of crime assistance in the aftermath of a crime.

The police authority and non-governmental organizations have both their own distinctive features and organisational criterions for the allocation of resources. The objective with this study is to explain organisational dilemmas in collaboration between the police authority and non-governmental organisations based on structural and cultural factors.

In our empirical analyses we apply an instrumental structural perspective and a cultural institutional perspective based in organizational theory. On the one hand, the formal structure influences decision-making, and this perspective assumes rational calculation to achieve high effectiveness. On the other hand, through an institutionalization processes, the organisation adapts to internal and external pressures and develop institutional cultural identities and informal norms. 

The data was collected from interviews with police officers with the task to achieve and obtain collaboration with the civic society in different forms, and from representatives from non-governmental organisations. 

The preliminary findings of our study point out that organizational mutual adaptation is necessary in long term partnerships to achieve shared problem solving. The police officers also face challenges within the organisation such as lack of support from colleges and management that aggravate an already difficult situation. Strategic police collaboration emerges when there is a need to gain peoples trust in priority areas, to undertake new challenges and face the problems of hate crimes and discrimination, and to solve new problems with juvenile criminality to mention a few examples.

Cecilia Jonsson, PhD and senior lecturer, Center for Police Research and Development Department of Police Work, Linnaeus University, Växjö Sweden. 2021

Police collaboration with civil societyMissing People, women's shelters and crime victim shelters are examples of non-profit organizations that collaborate with the police. The study aims to map out key components of Swedish community policing and how they are put into practice in collaboration with non-profit organisations. This type of collaboration is relatively unexplored, even though it has long existed in various forms and appears to be increasing. Some are new collaboration partners; others show a long-term collaboration between civil society and the police.

The data was partly collected from interviews with police officers with the task to achieve and obtain collaboration with the civil society in different forms, and partly from representatives from non-profit organisations.

The result points at organizational mutual adaptation as necessary in long term partnerships to achieve shared problem solving. The police officers also face challenges within the organisation such as lack of support from colleges and management that aggravate an already difficult situation. Strategic police collaboration emerges when there is a need to gain peoples trust in priority areas, to undertake new challenges and face the problems of hate crimes and discrimination, and to solve new problems with juvenile criminality to mention a few examples.

The main conclusion is that collaboration in community policing is limited in time, place, organisation and person, which make collaboration strategies and partnerships precarious. Also, collaboration emerges when there is a critical need for forging and building strategic partnerships, rather than within the areas pointed out by the police authority. 

Author: Cecilia Jonsson, phd. Senior lecturer at the Department of Police Work, Linnaeus University, Växjö Sweden.

The use of external figurants in the Swedish police education

The use of external figurants is a frequent practice in the Swedish police education. In simulations with external figurants the police students are supposed to practice their theoretical knowledge and practical policing skills in realistic cases in a role-play. However, to our knowledge, very little is documented about why, when and how figurants are best used in the police education and if the results of the student’s knowledge correlate with the time, effort and costs connected to the use of figurants. This study aims to describe advantages and disadvantages of the use of figurants in police education.

The study is based on interviews with police students, police teachers, figurants, and administrative staff to gain a broad comprehension of the educational use of figurants. The main results show there are various reasons for using figurants, which may differ between the police education as well as between subjects and individual teachers. 

Despite differences, students and teachers alike consider the practical exercises with figurants as an important and significant part of the police education. When figurant exercises are implemented as a strategic tool in the education, it gives the students a deeper sense and understanding of their future profession. 

Challenges with figurants often concern the number and the strategic selection of matching figurants with the right exercise. A frequently mentioned problem is the need for an exercise to be modified on spot due to the lack of the required number or, for the specific exercise, the appropriate category of figurants.

To reach a common view and target oriented approach among the involved staff, the study indicates a need of a review of the planning process and the administrative routines for the best results of the economic and personnel investment.

Authors:

Cecilia Jonsson, Phd, senior lecturer, Center for Police Research and Development Department of Police Work, Linnaeus University, Växjö Sweden

Susanna Lif, analyst Center for Police Research and Development Department of Police Work, Linnaeus University, Växjö Sweden

Gender at the police education

More men than women attend the police education and the police is considered one of the most masculine coded professions. In Sweden the number of female police students is increasing and gender equality within the work force is an outspoken goal by the police authorities. Gender relations in the police education are therefore of importance to examine. The first aim of this study is to investigate measurable gender differences in achievements during the education. The second aim is to analyze opinions regarding men’s and women’s terms and prerequisites throughout the education. Do students and teachers consider the police education to be equal? The study has a mixed method design. The quantitative part consists of data about the students’ study results compared between the sexes. The qualitative part is based on interviews with students and teachers regarding their subjective opinions and experiences of equality in the police education. The results from the quantitative part indicate differences in performances between female and male students in traditional police subjects such as weapon training, where female students more frequently are disapproved. In the interviews, male students often explain these differences as connected to female student's own doubts in themselves. This explanation also occurs in interviews with female students. However, actual concrete experiences of being treated differently by male students and teachers within the police program are striking in the material. This clearly affects female students in negative ways. Cecilia Jonsson, PhD and senior lecturer, Center for Police Research and Development Department of Police Work, Linnaeus University, Växjö Sweden

Marsanna Petersen, research assistant, Center for Police Research and Development Department of Police Work, Linnaeus University, Växjö Sweden 

The Police has as its main task to prevent crime and increase safety and security. This cannot be done by the police force itself, but in collaboration with the surrounding society. An important purpose with the Swedish police reform in 2015 was that police work should be conducted closer to the citizens and the civil society. Essential in this policy is local policy work with a focus on cooperation regarding crime prevention with both the municipalities and other actors. The cooperation on crime in the local society is a way to increase knowledge and contact with the citizens and members of different groups and associations. This type of cooperation is scientifically a relatively unexplored area in Sweden.

 The main objective with this study is to map out the different types of cooperation between the police of the civil society to understand pros and cons with this cooperation. 

RQ1: In what way do the police get use of the cooperation with the civil society?

RQ2: When and in what form is the cooperation conducted?

RQ3: How is the cooperation conducted?

In order to get a deeper understanding of different forms of collaborations this study is geographical delimited to one police area in the south of Sweden – Kronoberg/Kalmar. It is based on interviews with representatives of the Swedish police authority at the local level and non-profit associations cooperating with the police and participatory observation.

The empirical findings show a wide range of cooperation forms such as established organizational cooperation and individual based connections. The results also suggest a tendency towards four ideal types of cooperation, which can be patterned in variations of:

Function based collaboration, situation based collaboration, person based collaboration and 

organization based collaboration. There are also indications that the importance of this cooperation, stressed in policy documents and by the management, is not always shared with the police working within the operational activities. Implications and usefulness of these findings to future practice will be further explored.

I Polisförhör – Metoderna, forskningen och lagen beskriver författaren utförligt hur skickliga förhörsledare arbetar. De ställer frågor, lyssnar, får människor att minnas och lägger pussel. Ibland frågar de efter detaljer, ibland lyssnar de tålmodigt till långa och osammanhängande berättelser. För den oinvigde kan det förefalla som trevande och oorganiserade samtal, men skenet bedrar.

Boken presenterar en detaljerad arbetsordning för polisförhör, den så kallade PEACE-modellen. Modellen kan liknas vid en verktygslåda som kan fyllas med en lång rad metoder, var och en anpassad för olika situationer. För att metoderna ska kunna tillämpas optimalt beskrivs även deras teoretiska bakgrund och syften samt praktiska och juridiska begränsningar. Beprövad erfarenhet och forskning fogas i boken samman med juridik och organisatoriska rutiner till en helhet.

Metodiken kan vara användbar för alla yrkesgrupper som arbetar med utredande samtal, till exempel socialsekreterare, frivårdsinspektörer och försäkringsutredare. Men boken är i första hand en lärobok för grund- och vidareutbildning av förhörsledare inom Polismyndigheten.

Denna andra upplaga är grundligt reviderad och uppdaterad såväl vad gäller forskning som metodutveckling och juridik.

Police patrol officers (PPO) are challenged by various encounters with sick and injured persons in their role as first responders. The study aim was to explore what is considered as necessary emergency medical competence for Swedish PPO. With an exploratory design, the data was collected with the Delphi technique from 43 experts covering all parts of Sweden; educators at police academies (n=10), instructors in the police department (n=11) and active PPO (n= 22). The results provides a detailed understanding of emergency medical competencies, relevant for PPOs. Basic assessment and basic life support measures (e.g. airway management, CPR and hemorrhage control) for traumatic injuries are among the most important competencies. Whereas, advanced assessments, psychiatric/medical complaints and care for persons with alcohol/drug use receives lower levels of agreement among the experts. These results can support educators at universities and the police department in preparing active PPO to perform relevant out-of-hospital care for acutely ill and injured persons. 

Sustainability issues strike a conflict of aims in healthcare. To provide safe, high quality and efficient healthcare services is a general welfare policy aim in most European countries but this cannot be promoted to the detriment of the environment. The UN-development goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development seeks to raise awareness of and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental. Based on the UN development goals, sustainable healthcare systems include a complexity and multitude of aspects, from access to equal healthcare in local communities to global challenges as antibiotic resistance.

However, the global policy idea of sustainability require adaptation processes to make sense in regional and/or local practices. In the Swedish two-tier system, the responsibility for the funding, provision and governance of healthcare is delegated to the second-tier level. There is a long tradition in Sweden of regional self-government in health policy issues, but the debate about sustainability in accordance with the UN-development goals has so far been very modest in the Swedish healthcare sector. Therefore, adaptation to the three dimensions of sustainability demands a shift in understanding of how to address the problem. Hence, our question is how healthcare regions frame adaptation to the three dimensions of sustainability.

This paper adopts a discursive-institutional perspective, highlighting how regions and the healthcare sector frame adaptation to sustainability. Since sustainability questions will interact with healthcare issues, adaptation requires reflection upon which are the most important and appropriate policies for the future, and how these policies are framed.  

The data collection is based on interviews at managerial level to catch the regions perceptions of the challenges and adaptation in reaching a sustainable healthcare system. The study includes four of Sweden’s 20 healthcare regions. We apply a comparative method to explain how the adaptation capacity varies between the self-governing healthcare regions. This paper contributes in producing insights in the role of frames and adaptation processes in regional healthcare decision-making. How democratic ruled healthcare regions explore and adapt to sustainability issues through different frames also reveals adaptive capacities to policy problems and conflicting aims.