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Gun violence among criminal networks : A quantitative analysis of Swedish police officers’ perceptions on crime prevention work

Purpose This study amied to explore how police officers perceived the crime prevention efforts taken against gun violence in Sweden. Of particularly interest was to examine how certain efforts were perceived by the police officers, to be more or less effective when it comes to prevent gun violence from occurring among criminal networks. In this study, I explored which perceived effect certain efforts included under the working methods of community policing and problem-oriented policing had, as well as other efforts undertaken by law enforcement. Method Police officers who either worked in Gothenburg or Malmö city were targeted by the study. In sum, I received responses from 99 participants, in an on-line based questionnaire. The participants were selected through convenience sampling. Descriptive statistics are offered, and bivariate analyses were employed to identify officers’ perception differences of policing efficacy in vulnerable areas compared to non-vulnerable areas, and efficacy of law enforcement. Results The analyzes in the study, showed that the police officers overall perceived that the method of community policing to be crime preventive. This was especially the case for the vulnerable areas and in relation to the effort of an increased local police presence. As for the other method, problem-oriented policing, the officers particularly perceived that the effort of secret data eavesdropping to have the strongest crime prevention effect in both areas. The effort was also perceived to have more of an effect then both efforts included under community policing. As for hot spot policing, the other effort included under problem-oriented policing, the effort was overall perceived to have less of an effect among the officers. This was the cases for both areas. As for the importance to particularly prevent criminal networks possessions and sales of illegal drugs and weapons, community policing and problem-oriented policing were not perceived to be effective enough. As for the effect of the efforts undertaken by the law enforcement, a tougher approach against crime was among the police officers perceived to have the most effect. Conclusion The results of the study show that there is a continued increased need for evaluations of crime prevention efforts. The study also showed that there is an increased need that we as researchers, needs to further collaborate with the police force in order to further develop the craft of policing. / <p>2022-09-16</p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:miun-46201
Date January 2022
CreatorsWest, Emma
PublisherMittuniversitetet, Institutionen för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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