This paper examines some causes of strain and frustration among police officers. Previous research suggests that police officers sufferfromthe lack of communication and support from their community. The failure of communication has caused turmoil in the past between communities and their police. A possible solution is community policing. Community policing is supposed to establish communication between the public and the police. Causes of strain and frustration among the police are discussed along with the possible benefits of community policing. Research has shown that community police officers suffer less strain and frustration than their brethren. On this premise a quantitative examination a police force in Northumbria, England was conducted. The quantitative analysis focuses on two groups; community police officers and police officers not involved in community policing.

Syftet med studien var att beskriva områdespolisers syn på att arbeta nära medborgaren samt om och i så fall hur synen på arbetet skiljde sig mellan områdespoliser i en storstadsregion och en glesbygdsregion. Genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med sex områdespoliser, tre från vardera region, fann vi att samtliga intervjudeltagare hade svårt att definiera vad det innebar att arbeta nära medborgaren. De hade även svårt att urskilja vad som var brottsförebyggande och reaktivt i arbetet. En tydlig skillnad mellan områdespolisernas syn på arbetet var att de intervjuade i storstaden fokuserade på individen medan de i glesbygden fokuserade på det lokala samhället. Detta var återkommande skillnader genom hela resultatet. Områdespolisernas arbete förknippades med flera olika utmaningar och möjligheter men samtliga intervjudeltagare såg positivt på att arbeta mot att komma närmare medborgaren och att bli mer brottsförebyggande. / The aim of the study was to describe the views of community police officers towards working close to the citizen and if the views differed between community police officers in a metropolitan area and in a rural region, and if so, how they differed. Through semi structured interviews with six community police officers, three from each region, we found that all interviewees had difficulty defining what it meant to be close to the citizen. They also had difficulty distinguishing what was preventive and reactive in their work. A clear difference between the viewpoints of the work was that interviewees in the metropolitan area focused on the individuals while the interviewees in the rural areas focused on the local society. These were frequent differences throughout the result. The work of the community police officers was associated with a variety of challenges and opportunities, but all interviewees were pleased to work towards getting closer to the citizen and becoming more preventive.

Syftet med studien var att skildra hur områdespoliser beskriver sitt kunskapsbaserade brottsförebyggande arbete i särskilt utsatta områden, riskområden samt utsatta områden. Detta har genomförts med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer med områdespoliser stationerade i nämnda områden. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys har tillämpats för att studera datamaterialet. Vidare har materialet analyserats för att skildra om och hur områdespolisers arbetssätt kan kopplas till de kunskapsbaserade brottsförebyggande metoderna community-oriented policing samt problem- oriented policing. En varsam slutledning tyder på att delar av community-oriented policing som förhållningssätt kan kopplas till områdespolisers uppdrag. Utifrån resultatet kan problem- oriented policing som förhållningssätt till viss del utrönas. Däremot saknas essentiella delar från community-oriented policing och problem-oriented policing, följaktligen tyder det på att metoderna inte implementerats fullt ut. / The purpose of the study was to narrate how community police officer ́s describe their evidence-based crime prevention work in particularly-vulnerable-, risk-, and vulnerable areas. This has been accomplished from qualitative interviews with community police  officer ́s stationed in the mentioned areas. A qualitative content analysis has been applied to study the data material. Furthermore, the material has been analyzed to describe whether and how community police officer ́s work can be connected to evidence-based crime prevention methods, community-oriented policing and problem-oriented policing. A cautious conclusion indicates that some parts of community-oriented policing as an approach can be linked to community police officers’ assignments. Based on the results, problem-oriented policing as an approach can to some extent be established. However, essential parts from community-oriented policing and problem-oriented policing are missing, hence, it indicates that the methods are not fully implemented.