As the police authority moves to exploit its power, by using its advantage through individual police officers' initiatives, it will lead to serious societal consequences based on unequal power relations. Situations characterized by discrimination and oppression occur and are reproduced through intersections of power relations, based on ethnic affiliation, social standing, gender and sexual orientation. The purpose of this study is to analyse how this relationship between the police and the public are represented, reflected by the TV series Tunna blå linjen (The thin blue line), produced by Sveriges Television AB, SVT. Futhermore, the purpose of this study is also to analyse how the TV series relate to the criticized police practices, called into question during recent years. To attain these objetives, the TV series will be analysed based on the following question formulations: - How are power relations between the police and the public represented in the TV series Tunna blå linjen? - In what way does the TV series Tunna blå linjen relate to the various kinds of occuring criticized police practices, called into question during recent years? The material consists of seven selected image sequences, from which several aspects can be deducted. To evaluate and examine this material, a visual text analysis is performed, which includes text as well as imagery. The seven selected image sequences, retrieved from the TV series Tunna blå linjen, and the identified representations, illustrate the results of this study, that various kinds of situations characterized by discrimination and oppression occur. These situations are reproduced through intersections of power relations between the police and the public, based on ethnic affiliation, social standing, gender and sexual orientation. The results of this study also show that these power relations generate stigmatisation of individuals, a consequence which has affected each one of those being the subject of the actions initiated by the police, as the seven selected image sequences illustrate. The prasieworthy approach to problematize the police actions based on ethnic markers, which each of the seven selected image sequences represent, is not suffciently far-reaching, which is an additional result of this study.

Denna studie har analyserat hur polisen uppfattar att deras yrke framställs och representeras i tv-serien Tunna blå linjen som visas på SVT. Detta har gjorts genom en kvalitativ forskningsmetod som bygger på semistrukturerade forskningsintervjuer. I intervjuerna har sex poliser, som tagit del av de första sex avsnitten av Tunna blå linjen intervjuats med hjälp av en på förhand konstruerad intervjuguide. För att analysera intervjusvaren utgår studien från representationsteori, identitetsteori och teorier om polisjargong och polishumor. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur polisen anser att deras yrke framställs i tv-serien, om denna ger en bild som enligt verksamma poliser stämmer överens med deras upplevelse av yrket.    Studien visar att poliserna som intervjuades anser att deras yrke representerades på ett mer övertygande sätt än vad polisyrket brukar göra i dramaserier. Dock finns det vissa invändningar mot att viktiga delar i deras yrke spetsas till en aning, eller inte skildras över huvud taget. Detta har dock intervjupersonerna översikt med då de anser att dessa delar inte passar in i dramaformatet. Intervjupersonerna väljer dock att fortsätta ta del av serien då de attraheras av dramat, men också för att de anser att skildringen i tv-serien är så pass bra att de kan relatera till många delar av yrket. Intervjupersonerna kan också relatera till den identitet som skildras i tv-serien, och kan se stora likheter på jargongen och gemenskapen som utspelar sig mellan kollegorna i Tunna blå linjen. / The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to examine how the police believe that their profession is portrayed in the tv series Tunna blå linjen that is shown on Sveriges Television, SVT. Does the show give a depiction that according to active police officers is consistent with their experience of the profession. To accomplish the results of this study it has completed six qualitative and semi-structured interviews. The respondents are active police officers and they all have consumed the first six episodes of the show Tunna blå linjen. The study relates to the representations theory, the identity theory and a theory about police jargon and humor.  The results of this bachelor thesis shows that the respondents believe that the tv series Tunna blå linjen represents their profession in a more convincing way than the police profession usually does in other tv drama series. But however, they did react to the fact that the series did not show, for example all the paperwork they need to handle every day, and aggrandize some aspects of their profession, like the emotions of the characters. However, the interviewees are aware that these aspects have to be compromised for a drama series, and therefore they are indulgent.

This essay aims to create a deeper understanding of how the meaning-making of the series Thin Blue Line contributes to the debate of culture, cultural representation and exclusion in contemporary Sweden. Through a popular cultural perspective based on the theory of representation and a survey through the method semiotic analysis answer the following two questions: How is Swedishness represented in the TV series? How does racialized swedes appear in the TV series? The material analyzed is limited to four environments, from four scenes from the series. The analysis of semiotic resources such as the environment and characters show a representation of Swedishness and racialized swedes, confirming Stuart Hall's (1997) theory that racialized swedes are often represented in contexts linked to crime and bad behavior. This is found above all in denotation and connotation which depicts racialized swedes as "the others" in relation to the concept of "Swedishness". In conclusion, I believe that the outcome is due to the creators attempts to present the reality of the population in the city, followed by the lack of swedish research that sheds light on the opposite representation of racialized swedes.