Project: A valid police (education)
The project examines and analyses academisation processes in police education and police organisation, focusing on the tension between different educational ideals for ‘valid’ police(education). The concept of academic densification is used to analyse how academic elements affect the professional role of police officers, their career paths and the design of the police education more broadly.
Project information
Project title
A valid police (education). Academic density and practical skills
Project manager
Magnus Persson
Other project members
Cecilia Jonsson
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University
Financier
Swedish Research Council
Timetable
2022-2027
Subject
Sociology (Department of Social Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences)
Research groups
Centre for Police Research and Development (CPU) and Forum for Research into the Professions
More about the project
With empirical studies of discussions concerning academic elements in police education and police organisation, by use of case studies, the project examines and analyses academisation processes and the tug-of-war between different educational ideals for such education. The processes are understood in terms of academic densification and problematise the meaning and application of the concept of academisation.
The project makes i) an empirical contribution on the form and content of academic densification, as well as its effects on the police profession and the careers of police officers; ii) a theoretical contribution on the concept of ‘academic densification’ being developed for further application in professional and academisation studies; and, iii) a practical contribution that will generate a basis for how police training can be organised in the future, with a balance between academic and practical elements.
The project includes data such as:
- document analysis of different types of steering and policy documents from the Swedish Police Authority (Polismyndigheten), academic educations, the Swedish Police Union (Polisförbundet);
- retrospective expert interviews with respondents who have, or have had, positions of leadership in police training and;
- professional biographical interviews with current and former police officers with experience in academic training.
The project is part of the research in the project RECPOL SWEDEN – Recruitment, Education and Careers in the Police, in the research group Forum for Research into the Professions and in the interdisciplinary research centre Centre for Police Research and Development (CPU)
Publications
Conferences
Jonsson, Cecilia & Persson, Magnus (2022). Academic drift within the police education and the police profession in Sweden. Policing and Society Conference, Akureyri (Iceland), October, 2022.
Jonsson, Cecilia & Persson, Magnus (2023). Academic Pioneers in the Swedish Police: Narratives of phantom pain, organizational pollution and social closure. Policing and Society Conference, Akureyri (Iceland), October, 2023.
Flaatten, Sverre, Winnæss, Pål, Damen, Marie-Louise, Jonsson, Cecilia & Persson, Magnus (2024). Recruitment, Education and Careers in the Police. Policing and Society Conference, Akureyri (Iceland), October, 2024.
Jonsson, Cecilia & Persson, Magnus (2025). The Story of the Academic Densification of the Swedish Police Education. Policing & Society Conference, Akureyri (Iceland), October, 2025.
Research network
Silje Fekjær, professor, Centre for Study of Professions and vice-rector for Education, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
Gudmundur Ævar Oddsson, professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Akureyri, Iceland
Ólafur Örn Bragason, Director, Centre for Police Training and Professional Development, National Commissioner of Iceland
Sverre Flaaten, associate professor, The Norwegian Police University College, Oslo, Norway
Pål Winnæss, associate professor, The Norwegian Police University College, Oslo, Norway
Daniel Nerup Rye, educational coordinator, Centre for Quality and Development, Danish Police Academy, Brøndby, Denmark
Christian Romberg, chief inspector, Director of Swedish-language police education, Police University College, Tampere, Finland