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At first glance, crime prevention appears to be a relatively straightforward concept. It encompasses targeted interventions designed to address specific issues to deter and reduce criminal activity. Furthermore, it represents a significant societal responsibility, as effective prevention efforts can lead to a decrease in victimization. Among the key actors expected to contribute to crime prevention is the police.
However, even though the general direction in policing is shifting towards a more proactive and crime prevention-oriented approach, research and reports reveal challenges in integrating crime prevention into the daily and routine activities of police officers. Something occurs in the process when managerial directives to emphasize crime prevention are carried out by officers. Freeman (2009) refers to this process as translation, where actors interpret and implement directives from management. In the case of crime prevention, it appears to be a concept that becomes lost in translation. This translation process is important to study because police officers function as street-level bureaucrats, which allows them to execute directives based on how they interpret and prioritize them (Lipsky, 2010). Therefore, my dissertation is devoted to exploring how crime prevention is translated by analysing how police officers understand the concept and how they perceive it as part of their policing duties. Additionally, one way for managers to influence how crime prevention is translated and perceived is through education. For this reason, the role of crime prevention in police education is also examined.
To explore this translation and implementation process, a mixed-methods research design has been used. Surveys with police students, semi-structured interviews with police officers, and focus group discussions with both students and officers provide insights into the challenges associated with the implementation process. First, crime prevention means different things to different police students and officers—often in ways that are more inclusive than the official definition. Second, while crime prevention is perceived as important, it is often considered less important than other, more reactive assignments. The findings suggest that police culture may influence how the importance of crime prevention is perceived. Third, although police education includes crime prevention, it is not emphasized as much as more reactive tasks. Instead, it appears that crime prevention is primarily learned through working in the field.
When presenting these results to Nordic academics and practitioners, they often nod in agreement, confirming that my findings and analysis align with their perceptions and experiences of police crime prevention work. It is important to note that the dissertation is a work in progress, and further analysis is needed to deepen the understanding of the translation process and how it might be improved. Exactly what needs to be done is still too early to determine, but it is clear that action is necessary; otherwise, police crime prevention work risks remaining a black hole within policing.
Mia Lind is a doctoral student at the Department of Sociology and the Unit of Police Work, Umeå University, Sweden. Her main research area is crime prevention in policing.
Mia.lind@umu.se
https://www.umu.se/personal/mia-lind
