The entanglement of crisis and policing: Pluralization and Digitalization of Law Enforcement in Denmark and Sweden

• In Event: Digital Criminology: Criminalization and Crises

Abstract

The rise of gang-related crime across Denmark and Sweden, particularly in the Öresund region, has been framed as national crises by their respective governments and media, prompting intense public debate and accelerated proposals for policy changes focused on increased surveillance and expanding policing powers. This framing reflects a shift from temporary emergency responses to what are perceived as long-term instability requiring sustained social control efforts. Consequently, policing has become central to broader crisis management initiatives. To address the longevity of putative crime crises, policing has thus traditionally been the answer. In the Nordic countries policing has increasingly undergone digitalization, adopting advanced technologies, and pluralization, involving diverse governmental, private, and community actors. This “digital-plural complex” introduces novel methods and a greater reliance on private actors within traditionally public domains. Examples include new crime policy strategies and laws, place-based regulations (e.g., stop-and-search zones, “vulnerable” area classifications), and digital technologies (e.g., facial recognition cameras, policing platforms). At the same time, public debate about gang violence, migration, radicalization, and public fear of crime are claimed to further fuel the expansion of these methods, with narratives crossing the Öresund bridge, influencing views on crisis and policing in both countries.
While it is recognized that policing has been pluralized and digitalized, and that implementation practices as well as the public debate shape the realization of these changes, the dynamic interplay between policy and media narratives remains understudied. This comparative study addresses this gap by examining how new crime policy measures are legitimized by, interact with, reinforce, and potentially contradict each other within the context of plural-digital policing in Denmark and Sweden. Through policy and media analysis, we will investigate the knowledge production and narratives involved in the societal legitimization of recent changes in crime policy measures that foster the pluralization and digitalization of policing.

Authors

• Katarina Winter, Stockholm University

• Vasilis Galis, ITU Copenhagen