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This follow‑up study examines how conducted energy weapons (CEWs) have been integrated into Norwegian policing since their nationwide introduction in 2021. Building on earlier recommendations, the study assesses their operational use, impacts on officer and public safety, influence on decision‑making, training needs, and citizen perceptions. It employs a mixed‑methods design, combining surveys of police officers (n≈400) and citizens (n≈1000), CEW-related reports submitted to the National Police Directorate by the police districts (documented police CEW incidents), and qualitative interviews and focus groups with officers. 

CEWs now occupy a clearly defined intermediate position in the Norwegian use‑of‑force continuum, bridging the gap between low‑level options (e.g. verbal communication, physical control, pepper spray, batons) and firearms. Documented police CEW incidents and officer accounts show that CEW discharges remain relatively rare, while aiming, laser‑painting and arcing are more common – and often sufficient to secure compliance. In 2024, officers reported 337 threats and 213 uses of CEWs, with these figures shifting to 278 and 238 in 2025, respectively, and injuries remaining consistently low and generally minor across both years. These findings align with officers’ perceptions that CEWs mitigate the need for physical grappling and may help to prevent some firearm discharges, particularly in violent, intoxication‑related, or acute psychiatric crisis scenarios occurring within confined spaces. 

Officers generally report feeling safer when equipped with CEWs, noting that the devices create tactical opportunities to intervene earlier and with less risk. However, they often emphasise that CEWs do not constitute a fail‑safe measure: thick clothing, limited range, suboptimal probe spread and aiming error can compromise their effectiveness. Thus, CEWs are often paired with firearm cover, especially in knife‑related situations where distance and timing are critical. Experienced officers also warn of potential overreliance among newer recruits who have never worked in unarmed policing environments, stressing the need to maintain strong communication, de‑escalation skills and sound tactical reasoning, despite the availability of CEWs. 

Citizen data reveal generally high trust in the police and strong support for CEWs as a less-lethal alternative to firearms. Respondents in the older age range tend to be more positive overall, while younger respondents exhibit greater scepticism. Prior exposure to information about CEWs boosts acceptance. At the same time, concerns persist regarding disproportionate use-of-force – especially toward ethnic minorities – reflecting broader societal debates. These findings underscore the importance of continued transparency, public communication, and robust oversight. 

Overall, CEWs have become an important part of Norway’s harm‑reduction approach to policing. CEWs broaden the tactical options available to officers, reduce the need for more injurious force and, in some cases, prevent the need for firearm use. However, their effectiveness and legitimacy depend on high‑quality training, strong situational assessments, careful decision‑making and ongoing monitoring. CEWs cannot replace professional judgment or communication skills; rather, they must complement them to ensure proportional, safe and account policing. 

Introduction:Police officers’ occupational patterns and their needs for health promotion are rarely addressed in police health research, partly due to the lack of specific instruments. This study describes the initial steps in developing an instrument that targets officers’ lifestyles and health, utilising occupational therapy and – science.

Method:The study includes 48 participants and uses an instrument development methodology. First, the construct was defined through theoretical dimensions with two focus groups. Second, items were developed and tested during cognitive interviews with 28 officers. Finally, the instrument underwent content validity testing with nine occupational therapists.

Results:The instrument is based on the construct of police officers’ conditions for a sustainable and healthy lifestyle. This refers to an individualised, balanced lifestyle that enables participation, choice and control, supporting healthy routines, roles and meaningful occupations across various life domains shaped by social, occupational and physical environments over time. All domains encompass aspects of working and personal life, and the balance between them.

Conclusion:The instrument’s psychometric properties, representativeness and feasibility need to be continuously evaluated. Subsequently, occupational therapists and human resource personnel may use it to promote police officers’ sustainable lifestyles and life balance as an assessment and a self-reflection tool.

Need-satisfying experiences corresponding to students' psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence lead to increased academic engagement and well-being. A lack of education-specific basic needs instruments validated in Swedish may inhibit basic needs research in Swedish-speaking student populations. Thus, the present study aimed to adapt the Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (NSFS) to the context of education in Sweden and validate this new Swedish NSFS in a sample of Swedish university students (n = 417, 59.7% women, mean age = 23.3 (SD = 4.3) years). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to investigate the dimensionality of NSFS ratings, followed by structural equation modelling of nomological networks of basic needs, academic engagement, life satisfaction, academic burnout, and perceived stress. The NSFS ratings were best described by a three-factor model with methods correction for reversed item bias. Results showed that each need uniquely contributed to perceived stress and academic burnout. Relatedness and competence, but not autonomy, were significant predictors of life satisfaction and academic engagement. The main study contribution was providing a Swedish NSFS to assess autonomy, relatedness, and competence in higher education. The results support the use of the Swedish NSFS as a three-dimensional measure of basic needs in Swedish-speaking student populations.

Introduction: Medical First Responders (MFRs) in the emergency department SUMMA 112 are tasked with handling the initial management of Mass Casualty Incidents (MCI) and building response capabilities. Training plays a crucial role in preparing these responders for effective disaster management. Yet, evaluating the impact of such training poses challenges since true competency can only be proven amid a major event. As a substitute gauge for training effectiveness, self-efficacy has been suggested.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to employ a pre- and post-test assessment of changes in perceived self-efficacy among MFRs following an intervention focused on the initial management of MCI. It also aimed to evaluate a self-efficacy instrument for its validity and reliability in this type of training.

Method: In this study, we used a pretest (time 1 = T1) – post-test (time 2 = T2) design to evaluate how self-efficacy changed after a training intervention with 201 MFRs in initial MCI management. ANOVA within-subjects and between subjects analyses were used. Results: The findings reveal a noteworthy change in self-efficacy before and after training among the 201 participants. This suggests that the training intervention positively affected participants’ perceived capabilities to handle complex situations like MCI.

Conclusion: The results allow us to recommend a training program with theory components together with practical workshops and live, large-scale simulation exercises for the training of medical first responders in MCI, as it significantly increases their perception of the level of self-efficacy for developing competencies associated with disaster response.

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.

In many educational programmes preparing students for professions where human interaction is central, the development of empathic ability is of importance. The aim of this study was to explore attitudes towards the importance of empathy in police work among police students. The intention was also to investigate if attitudes would change over time during education, and whether gender differences could be observed. A modified version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy was administered to 355 Swedish police students in a mixed method design, including both between- and within-groups comparisons. Attitudes toward the importance of empathy were measured before and after a practical internship. The result showed that the students in general found empathic ability important, but also that they did not change their attitudes over time .The results were conflicting when it came to gender differences. There was no significant result for the between-group sample, but female students reported significantly higher compared to male students in the between-within group. This research is valuable in the discussion on how “soft skills” such as empathic ability can be assessed and developed in students in preparation for professional practice, and can also be useful in educational evaluation and planning.

A need to develop effective crime prevention strategies has been recognised throughout history. Due to the financial constraints of criminal justice systems, there are major global efforts to ensure that the strategies employed are highly cost-effective, rational, and evidence-based. To aid such efforts, this study explores the impact of a collaborative, community-oriented crime prevention initiative in Colombia. Empirically, it is based on pre- and post-intervention views of police officers and citizens (assessed by questionnaires) in areas covered by the initiative and control areas, complemented with focus group interviews and crime statistics. The police officers appreciated the greater autonomy provided by the approach and associated changes in organisational culture. The citizens had substantial trust in the police, despite high perceptions of general disorder and personal fear of crime. The preliminary findings indicate that the approach has had some promising effects, but several aspects require more attention.

Collaboration is essential for successful emergency event management. Live exercises are one method to prepare for such emergencies. In this paper, we present and evaluate an exercise model for multi-agency collaboration between first responders that focuses on learning collaboration. The model design emphasises preparation, the learning climate, scenarios that support learning, and reflection. The model is underpinned by a practice perspective on learning and structured reflection. Data were collected from three collaboration exercises using questionnaires in conjunction with the exercise and interviews at a later time after the exercise. The analysis showed that the participants developed a knowledge of collaboration and improved their ability to collaborate in real emergency events. The main contribution of the paper is the validation of a small-scale exercise model that places learning of the subject matter in the foreground, which is shown to be a successful method for developing relevant knowledge. It is concluded that this live exercise model both complements the more commonly used large-scale collaboration exercise model and strengthens emergency preparedness.

Burnout was originally conceptualized based on experiences of new professionals. Role clarity, task mastery, and social acceptance are recognized as key resources enabling new professionals’ management of the challenges of the new profession. However, relations between these resources and stress, strain, and burnout have not yet been thoroughly investigated at professional entry. Increased understanding of these relations could have implications for strategies to prevent burnout. The aim of the study was to investigate within- and between-individual effects over the first months and relations to burnout at one-year post-entry. Data (n = 322) was collected weekly over the first 13 weeks and again 9 months later. Relationships were modelled using a multilevel regression model and correlation analysis. Results showed that on weeks when participants experienced higher role clarity, task mastery, and social acceptance, they reported significantly less stress, and that participants who experienced higher levels of the resources in general, reported significantly less strain. Levels of the resources at three months were related to symptoms of burnout at 12 months. The study findings provide support of the role of task mastery, role clarity, and social acceptance as resources buffering the impact of demands at professional entry on experiences of stress, strain, and burnout.

Purpose: Empathy has been widely theorized as an important ability in professions such as policing, in which to perform well individuals require multiple and interacting abilities, not least when resolving conflict situations. Even so, there are few studies investigating how subconstructs of empathy relate to other constructs such as general cognitive ability. The purpose of this paper is to establish, after evaluating psychometric properties, relationships among measures of empathy and cognitive ability in a sample of Swedish police students (n = 157).

Design/methodology/approach: Multiple latent variable models of how the different measures work to predict tasks that can be seen as proxies for the ability to understand another person’s situation and intentions are evaluated to determine the most robust relationship(s) within the data.

Findings: We find support for the psychometric properties reported in previous studies with the used instruments. We also find support for perspective-taking, a cognitive empathy subconstruct predicting the ability to recognize emotions, and also the affective part of empathy, predicting general cognitive ability. These findings are discussed at length in the paper.

Originality/value: This research adds more knowledge to the issue of how general cognitive ability relates to cognitive empathy and other subconstructs of empathy or Theory of Mind.