NCJ Number
85880
Date Published
1980
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study examines the actors, interests, and strategies involved in the strengthening of the power of Norway's police.
Abstract
In the last 10 to 15 years, the police forces in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark have experienced reorganization and rapid growth. The relative independence of local police units has been weakened. There is a shift from a persuasion-oriented approach to conflict resolution to a coercive approach, and police resources are steadily rising. In Norway, such a development can be divided into the latent, parliamentary, and political phases. The latent phase was marked by activity among police professional interest groups (union officials and police commissioners) and the Ministry of Justice, acting in the capacity of final authority within the department. During this period, the concept of a centralized police directorate emerged from the Ministry of Justice and was supported by police professional organizations in the interests of having a centralized bargaining focus and a platform for gaining more resources. The parliamentary phase consisted of the establishment of an official committee to study a possible reorganization of the central police administration; however, the directorate plans were shelved in apparent victory for the opponents of police reinforcement. The political phase involved the soliciting of public support for police reinforcement. This involved representatives of the police cooperating with political groups to place public pressure on the appropriating authorities. This worked upon a public perception that violent crime and disorder were on the increase. Thus, the patterns of police reinforcement in Norway constituted a core solution that formed an acceptable approach for meeting the interests of the different groups of actors. Tabular data and 27 notes are provided.