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År 2024 infördes i polislagen nya regler om säkerhetszoner, som i brottsförebyggande syfte ger polisen utökade möjligheter till tvångsmedelsanvändning – i form av kroppsvisitationer och genomsökningar av transportmedel – i geografiskt avgränsade områden. I denna artikel undersöks dels 40 polisers initiala uppfattningar om dessa bestämmelser om säkerhetszoner, dels innehållet i bestämmelserna både såvitt avser upprättande av säkerhetszoner och tvångsmedelsanvändning i dessa zoner. Undersökningen visar att nästan alla tillfrågade poliser anser att de inte har tillräcklig kunskap om de nya reglerna om säkerhetszoner. Beträffande gällande rätt visar undersökningen att den nya regleringen innehåller en del vaga begrepp, att det kan diskuteras om den är förenlig med artikel 8 i Europakonventionen och att det sedan tidigare finns andra bestämmelser i polislagen som ger relativt omfattande möjligheter till användning av tvångsmedel av den typ som brukas i säkerhetszoner. I artikeln argumenteras för ett införande av enhetliga risknivåer i tvångsmedelslagstiftning med ett brottsförebyggande syfte.

Denna studie undersöker polisens agerande vid pågående dödligt våld (PDV) för att förstå deras reaktioner, beslutsfattande och agerande under hög stress. Genom observation av polisens PDV-övningar identifieras utmaningar och hinder samt effektiva strategier för att hantera sådana situationer. Resultaten visar att poliserna hade svårigheter med att förstå den komplexa situationen, vilket påverkade deras agerande. De uppvisade varierande grad av situationsförståelse och hade svårt att prioritera mellan olika uppgifter samt utmaningar med att identifiera hot och utföra livräddande åtgärder. Diskussionen belyser behovet av att integrera relevant forskning i polisutbildningen och övningarna för att förbättra polisernas förmåga att hantera PDV.

This study examines police conduct during active shooting scenario to understand their reactions, decision-making, and actions under high stress. Through the observation of police active shooting exercises, challenges, obstacles, and effective strategies for managing such situations are identified. The results indicate that police officers experienced difficulties in understanding the complex situation, which influenced their behavior. They demonstrated varying levels of situation awareness and struggled to prioritize between different tasks, as well as facing challenges in identifying threats and performing life-saving measures. The discussion emphasizes the need to integrate relevant research into police training and exercises to enhance officers’ ability to handle active shooting scenarios.

Sexual and gender-based harassment is a work environment concern, especially in hierarchical and male-dominant organisations such as the police. This scoping review aims to examine the existing literature on such harassment against police employees in Europe to identify the available knowledge and highlight the gaps for future studies. Following the Arksey and O’Malley framework, 16 relevant articles were analysed. Most of the studies were focused on sexual harassment, and gender-based harassment was mostly absent or mixed with other discriminations. The analysis resulted in six main themes: existence of sexual and gender-based harassment; perpetrators; associated factors; consequences; individual response; and impact of organisational policies. The findings demonstrate that such harassment remains prevalent among police employees, emphasising the need for continuous and rigorous supervision, evaluation, and comprehensive revision of policies by police authorities. This study recommends further research to address the identified gaps in this field.

Following the #MeToo movement and a Facebook campaign known as #Nödvärn (selfdefense), sexual and gender-based harassment in the context of Swedish police work has received increased attention. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of sexual and gender-based harassment, the common types of harassment, and the organizational factors that officers perceive to be enabling the occurrence of such harassment. The current study employed a mixed methods explanatory sequential design. The quantitative phase involved 151 police officers to assess the prevalence and the more common types of sexual and gender-based harassment. The qualitative study, with a focus group and 12 individual interviews with police officers, aimed to explain the quantitative findings and explore how officers perceived such harassment and the enabling organizational factors in police work. The results showed that female officers reported significantly higher gender-based harassment than male officers. However, there was no significant gender difference in sexual harassment, and male officers also reported a high occurrence of sexual harassment from their colleagues and supervisors, who were mainly men. Verbal sexual harassment was reported as the more common type of harassment. The findings showed a prevailing toxic jargon among officers in the police work environment. Moreover, they stated a degree of silence against such harassment that makes identifying and addressing the problem complicated. Furthermore, there is a lack of skills and competence among police managers regarding handling such harassment. The findings underscore the need for ongoing organizational efforts to tackle cultural and managerial issues within the police organization.

Active shooter events require swift action. This study examines situation awareness during these incidents, focusing on how officers transition from less confrontational approaches to more confrontational, life-saving tactics. Using qualitative research based on observations from six active shooter training exercises, the study highlights key factors such as information, experience, and shared mental models that influence situation awareness. The findings reveal that while officers are willing to take risks, they often struggle to adopt the necessary speed and dominance needed to neutralize the threat effectively.

Indoor interventions are among the most dangerous situations police officers have to deal with, mostly due to a lack of situational awareness. This work describes a planner that determines when to provide information, implemented in DLV^K. It is based on the General Tactical Explanation Model, used by Swedish police during tactical interventions. The planner is envisioned to be integrated in an augmented reality tool to enhance officers’ situational awareness.

In extreme situations, the police have limited time to react when a threat or a situation arises suddenly. Situation awareness has been identified as a key factor for success in how tactical decisions are made. This helps the police to perform secure and legally correct interventions and decisions. We collected the primary data from 21 interviews with police officers, supplemented by literature and documents. We analyzed the relationship between tactical methods and situation awareness. The purpose of the article is to explore the relationship between police tactics and police officers’ work with situation awareness. Situation awareness has been studied through the lens of the Swedish police general tactical explanation model. We discuss how the general tactical explanation model provides the conditions for the police officers’ explanations to achieve situation awareness. We conclude that if the general tactical explanation model is applied during tactical interventions there are better possibilities to achieve situation awareness.

Syftet med denna artikel är att utforska hur centrala svenska aktörer upplever och hanterar arbetet med åldersbedömningar av asylsökande barn i Sverige. Vidare syftar artikeln till att diskutera hur dessa aktörer använder sitt handlingsutrymme till att balansera mellan den rättsliga regleringen å den ena sidan och barnets rättigheter och behov å den andra. I artikeln används Lipskys teori om gräsrotsbyråkrater. Undersökningen baseras på kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer med tjänstepersoner vid Migrationsverket och rättsläkare. Av resultaten dras slutsatsen att tjänstepersonerna vid Migrationsverket har ett stort handlingsutrymme vid åldersbedömning av asylsökande barn, men att de i hög grad använder detta till att överlämna beslutet om ålder till rättsläkarna. Vidare dras slutsatsen att rättsläkarna har ett mer begränsat handlingsutrymme, eftersom det är utlåtanden från tandläkare och röntgenläkare som egentligen avgör vilken åldersbedömning som görs.

Introduction: Police officers work in a variable environment under different circumstances and often involves stressful situations. This include working irregular hours, ongoing exposure to critical incidents, confrontations and violence. community police officers are mainly out in the society and have daily contact with the general public. critical incidents can also consist of being criticized and stigmatized as a police officer, both from the public but also lack of support from their own organization. There is evidence on negative impacts of stress on police officers. However, knowledge about the nature of police stress and its various types is insufficient. It is assumed that there are common stress factors which are universal among all police officers in different contexts but there is a lack of comparative studies to provide empirical evidence. The aim of this study is to compare different types of stress among police officers in Norway and Sweden and how the pattern of experiencing stress has changed over time in these countries.

Methods: The study population consisted of patrolling police officers from 20 local police districts or units in all seven regions in Sweden (n = 953) and patrolling police officers from four police districts in Norway (n = 678). A 42-item Police Stress Identification Questionnaire was used to measure the stress level.

Results: The findings show differences in types of stressful events as well as its severity among police officers in Sweden and Norway. The level of stress decreased over time among Swedish police officers whereas it showed no change or even an increase among the Norwegian participants.

Discussion: The results of this study are relevant for policy-makers, police authorities and lay police officers in each country to tailor their efforts to prevent stress among police officers.