| 1. |
- Backteman-Erlanson, Susann, et al.
(author)
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Prevalence of burnout and associations with psychosocial work environment, physical strain, and stress of conscience among Swedish female and male police personnel
- 2012
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In: Police Practice & Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Focus of this study was to investigate prevalence of burnout and relation to psychosocial work environment, physical strain, and stress of conscience amongst female and male police personnel in Sweden. The questionnaire was answered by 856 (55%) patrolling police officers, 437 (56%) women vs. 419 (53%) men. Prevalence and mean values for emotional exhaustion (EE) and depersonalization (DP) was higher in our study compared to other studies including police personnel in Norway and the Netherlands. A multiple logistic regressions showed that for women stress of conscience, high demand, and organizational climate was significant associated with EE, for men it was stress of conscience, decision, and high demand. For DP only stress of conscience contributed statistically significant in our model, respectively, of gender. Further research is needed to develop interventions aiming to reduce levels of burnout among police personnel in Sweden.
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| 2. |
- Bertilsson, Johan, et al.
(author)
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Towards systematic and objective evaluation of police officer performance in stressful situations
- 2020
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In: Police Practice and Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 21:6, s. 655-669
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To ensure a continuous high standard of police units, it is critical to recruit people who perform well in stressful situations. Today, this selection process includes performing a large series of tests, which still may not objectively reveal a person’s capacity to handle a life-threatening situation when subjected to high levels of stress. To obtain more systematic and objective data, 12 police officers were exposed to six scenarios with varying levels of threat while their heart rate and pupil size were monitored. The scenarios were filmed and six expert evaluators assessed the performance of the police officers according to seven predefined criteria. Four of the scenarios included addressing a moderate threat level task and the scenarios were executed in a rapid sequence. Two further scenarios included a familiar firearm drill performed during high and low threat situations. The results showed that there was a large agreement between the experts in how they judged the performance of the police officers (p < 0.001). Performance increased significantly over tasks in four of the seven evaluation criteria (p ≤ 0.037). There was also a significant effect of pupil size (p = 0.004), but not heart rate, when comparing the different sequential scenarios. Moreover, a high level of threat considerably impaired the motor performance of the police officers during the firearms drill (p = 0.002). Finally, the pupil seemed to systematically dilate more when a threat appeared immediately than with a delay in the scenarios (p = 0.007). We conclude that systematic and quantitative judgments from experts provide valuable and reliable information about the performance of participants in realistic and stressful policing scenarios. Furthermore, objective physiological measures of heart rate and pupil size may help to explain and understand why performance sometimes deteriorates.
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| 3. |
- Bertilsson, J., et al.
(author)
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Use of pepper spray in policing : retrospective study of situational characteristics and implications for violent situations
- 2017
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In: Police Practice & Research. - : Routledge. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 18:4, s. 391-406
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Pepper spray (OC) is a policing tool aimed to prevent or stop aggressive behavior by quickly and temporarily incapacitate without injuring. To date, few studies have investigated OC's operational usefulness and limitations. OC reduced violent behavior in 93% of the 936 incidents investigated. However, the operative range was often <2m and it took between 3 and 5 s of spraying before obtaining effect, partly owing to the difficulties of hitting a small, sometimes erratically moving target. Collateral hits were noted in 24% of the incidents, whereof 90% were other officers. Noteworthy, in 21% of incidents officers put themselves at large personal risk by using OC at close range against people armed with lethal weapons. Hence, OC emerges as a suitable tool for handling low threat situations but lacks key traits to ensure safe and efficient policing of high threat situations, e.g., handling armed assailants.
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| 4. |
- Bäck, Thomas, et al.
(author)
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Police students' perceptions of professional competences : a comparative study of Catalonia and Sweden
- 2017
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In: Police Practice & Research. - : Routledge. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 18:5, s. 478-491
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study is part of the European cooperation project, Recruitment, Education, and Career in the Police. The overall aim of this study is to compare how Swedish and Catalan police students perceive different competence dimensions in relation to their future profession, and how the perceptions of these competence dimensions change from the beginning to the end of the training program. The empirical data is based on identical questionnaires that were distributed to police students in Sweden and Catalonia. The results show different patterns in how Catalan and Swedish police students perceive the importance of the different competences at the beginning and at the end of their basic training programs. The implications of this study show that more knowledge is needed about the next step; that is, how the police students use these competencies in their professional work.
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| 5. |
- Cederborg, Ann-Christin, 1952-, et al.
(author)
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Investigative interviewing of alleged child abuse victims : an evaluation of a new training programme for investigative interviewers
- 2013
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In: Police Practice & Research. - London : Taylor & Francis Group. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 14:3, s. 242-254
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This evaluation focused on the developing interviewing skills of 104 active crimeinvestigators in Sweden who participated in six different half-year courses between 2007 and 2010. The courses emphasised a combined model of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Protocol and the PEACE model of investigative interviewing. The teaching was interdisciplinary. The evaluation involved interviews of 208 children, most of whom were suspected victims of physical abuse. The investigators used two-thirds fewer option-posing questions and three times as many invitations after training as they did before training. These data show that the training was very effective in shaping the interviewers behaviour into better compliance with internationally recognised guidelines.
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| 6. |
- Egnell, Susanne
(author)
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Exploring the situational characteristics of drug policing directed at youth : circumstances of detection and grounds for intervention
- 2023
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In: Police Practice & Research. - : Routledge. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 24:6, s. 661-676
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aim of this article is to explore the circumstances associated with police interventions and the use of enforced drug tests and body searches against youths suspected of minor drug crime in Malmo, Sweden. There is a need for research on police enforcement practices directed at young people as a result of an increased use of coercive measures against youth and young adults suspected of minor drug offences in Sweden. The research questions are addressed on the basis of police documentation covering a period of one year. Approximately 67% of police interventions involved car-stops or police responses to calls for service. The documented grounds for the use of enforced drug tests are of a subjective nature, and detail signs of intoxication. Body searches were less often documented, and provided little insight into suspicion formation. 82% of the drug tests produced positive results for illicit substances. The results highlight the need to evaluate the utility and practice of body searches and enforced drug testing focused on youth.
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| 7. |
- Gottschalk, Petter, et al.
(author)
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Whistle-blowing in the police
- 2011
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In: Police Practice & Research. - Oxon, United Kingdom : Taylor & Francis Group. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 12:5, s. 397-409
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It has been argued that police organizations make whistle-blowing very difficult. This paper reports from a study of all court cases against police employees in Norway in 2008. In the empirical study it was found that 30% of the cases originated from internal whistle-blowing while 70% of the cases originated from external complaints.
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| 8. |
- Haake, Ulrika
(author)
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Conditions for gender equality in police leadership : making way for senior police women
- 2018
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In: Police Practice & Research. - : Routledge. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 19:3, s. 241-252
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper aims to analyse and discuss conditions for gender equality in police leadership. This is done by interviewing 28 sworn police leaders in Sweden, and using a doing gender perspective for analyses. The results show that women and, to a greater extent, men in police leadership do gender traditionally. Explanations for the lack of female leaders and strategies for increasing the number of female leaders are shown to either focus on women as individuals (mostly men) or organisational structure and culture (mostly women). Further, strategies to reach gender equality goals are critically examined. These could be used to create concrete diversity and equality work within police and other organisations. Whether or not quantitative gender equality work (raising the number of females in leadership positions) can create changes in qualitative gender equality (the learning of new norms to change experiences of inclusion and exclusion in relation to gender) is discussed.
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| 9. |
- Karp, Staffan, 1958-, et al.
(author)
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Learning to be a police officer : tradition and change in the training and professional lives of police officers
- 2011
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In: Police Practice & Research. - London : Routledge. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 12:1, s. 4-15
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the usefulness of a model for empirical studies of conservative and innovative forces in police training and the professional lives of police officers. The model is based on frame factor theory and is demonstrated against Swedish police research and the authors' own observations and experiences of the Swedish police organization and police training. The authors conclude that the model can be used to describe and understand the everyday practice that police students and new police officers encounter and adopt. In particular, the model can help to identify and describe the tension fields that individual police students and police officers must learn to navigate. Thus, empirical studies using the model may contribute to a deeper understanding of police officers' individual and collective attitudes to the conservation and the development of day-to-day practice in police training and the police profession.
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| 10. |
- Lindholm, Johanna, et al.
(author)
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Adolescent girls exploited in the sex trade : informativeness and evasiveness in investigative interviews
- 2015
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In: Police Practice & Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 16:3, s. 197-210
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study explores the informativeness of 24 adolescents exploited in sex trade in Sweden when they were interviewed by police officers about their experiences. The questions and responses were analysed using coding types developed for research on forensic interviews. Qualitative analyses of the questions resulting in evasive responses and the court files were also done. The findings show that the adolescents were informative yet evasive, specifically when asked open questions. Experiences of violence and interviews conducted soon after the police intervention may result in higher levels of evasiveness. Concurrently, evasiveness seems to be intimately connected to unique circumstances in each case.
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| 11. |
- Lundälv, Jörgen, Docent i trafikmedicin, 1966-, et al.
(author)
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How do we reduce the risk of deaths and injuries from incidents involving police cars? : Understanding injury prevention in the swedish context
- 2010
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In: Police Practice & Research. - : Routledge. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 11:5, s. 437-450
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Motor vehicles are an indispensible and daily tool of police work. The risk that police officers face when driving has attracted much academic attention, although in Sweden research in this field has been limited. In this paper, it is our intention to identify risks involving police cars, to review the causes of police car accidents in Sweden, and to give a better understanding of injury prevention in the Swedish police context. We note that, during the last few years, police officers' road traffic training has become more structured, covering emergency service driving and pursuits. Nevertheless, we call for more comprehensive driver education in police officer training, along with the establishment of strict routines for the gathering and processing of traffic incident data.
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| 12. |
- Norberg, Katarina
(author)
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Legislation vs. morality : a police officer’s ethical dilemma
- 2011
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In: Police Practice & Research. - London : Routledge. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; , s. 10-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Policing is a moral endeavor. This paper discusses policing as a complex mission linked to its moral dimension and how individual values may impact how daily work is accomplished. It highlights the ethical dimension of decision-making from different ethical perspectives and the importance of developing practical ethical awareness in routine tasks and everyday activities. A routine episode, as depicted by a female police officer in an in-service program, illustrates how a number of ethical dimensions may arise in an unexpected situation with a discrepancy between the national ethical values for policing and its realization in practice. This paper draws attention to the importance of a forum in which shared dilemmas drawn from everyday activities are discussed, focusing on legislation as well as different ethical perspectives, to identify alternative actions.
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| 13. |
- Petersson, Ulf, et al.
(author)
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Police officer involved shootings - retrospective study of situational characteristics
- 2017
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In: Police Practice & Research. - : Routledge. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 18:3, s. 306-321
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The study analyzed the situational characteristics of 112 incidents where police used firearms to handle high threat situations. Most shooting incidents emanated from usually uneventful tasks, e.g., handling burglaries or disturbances. The assailants were commonly armed with firearms (26%), sharp (27%) or blunt objects (10%). The incidents were regularly short-lasting (in 39% were shots fired 3s from threat emerged) and occurred at short distances (in 42% at distances 3m). Predominantly, the first responders had to address the situation and did so with warning shots or, equally common, with fire-for-effect shots (40%) or a combination thereof. Psychological stress was manifested as feelings of panic at some point and as motor skill alterations, e.g., firing without using sights and with one hand only. Analysis of these incidents shows that all field duty police officers should receive training in handling potentially life-threatening, sudden, close-range attacks.
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| 14. |
- Strand, Susanne, 1972-
(author)
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Using a restraining order as a protective risk management strategy to prevent intimate partner violence
- 2012
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In: Police Practice & Research. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 13:3, s. 254-266
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The police play an important role in implementing risk management strategies to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV). The focus of this study was to investigate the use of a restraining order (RO) as a risk management strategy and its crime preventive effect. Two hundred and fourteen male spousal assaulters assessed with the B-SAFER in a Swedish police county between 2005 and 2007 were followed up in 2009. Thirty-one per cent received a RO of which 44% relapsed into new IPV. There were no differences in recidivism between those who received a RO and those who did not. However, those assessed as low or medium risk for IPV were less likely to recidivate if they had a RO issued upon them than those assessed as high risk. These results indicate that the RO may be a useful crime preventive strategy for IPV in those specific cases, but not in general, and not for those assessed to present a high risk of future violence.
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| 15. |
- Sundström, Anna, 1979-, et al.
(author)
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Swedish student police officers' job values and relationships with gender and educational background
- 2014
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In: Police Practice & Research. - : Routledge. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 15:1, s. 35-47
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study examined student police officers’ job values and differences in job values with respect to gender and educational background. Three hundred fifty-two Swedish first-year police students responded to a job value questionnaire. Psychometric analyses indicated that there are three dimensions of job values: intrinsic, altruistic, and extrinsic. In general, students rated altruistic values as more important than intrinsic/ leisure and extrinsic values. Females valued intrinsic and altruistic aspects of a job as more important than males did. In conclusion, the three dimensions of job values, as well as the differences found between males and females are supported by previous research on job values. Future studies should be directed on examining whether police students’ job values change during education and in the transition to work.
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| 16. |
- Överlien, Carolina, et al.
(author)
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The police patrols and children experiencing domestic violence
- 2016
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In: Police Practice & Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1561-4263 .- 1477-271X. ; 17:5, s. 434-447
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Using data from a study on police officers' encounters with domestic violence victims and a study on children experiencing domestic violence, this article examines how officers decide whether and how to communicate with children in emergency situations, and how children experience these encounters. Officers' views on such communication diverge; usually, communication is motivated by the need to determine next actions. Children recall little communication and describe officers as faceless, nameless and genderless. The authors argue for recognizing the preventive role of officers on emergency calls. Official policies and guidelines should formally acknowledge and clarify the importance of communication with children.
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