The Anthology

The Anthology
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become a single authority, a development slated for
2015. [It is] even more important that we have a national
concept now. Without clear leadership we run the
risk of ending up with many local [manifestations of
SPT] concepts. The different counties are not able to
assume responsibility for the type of evaluation that the
project stood for. They tend to focus on other priorities.
Therefore, the NPB should take responsibility for
a national system.
Other questions that emerged in the interviews are
the following: How is new knowledge – for example,
GODIAC – disseminated in our own organisation?
How deep really is the knowledge of the principles?
What sort of demands do we face today, and do our job
descriptions and competency profiles match them? How
do we manage the need for rapid response when there is
social unrest?
4. Concluding Discussion
After analysing the evaluation of the SPT project, the
five field studies carried out after the project ended
and the interviews we conducted December 2012-January
2013 we have come to the following conclusions.
4.1 Project Period 2007–2010 – a Strategy for Long
Term Knowledge Development Is Tried Out
Looking back the SPT project is perceived as a positive
period for the Swedish police. This became
evident when we asked individuals to take part in our
interviews; everyone took of their own time for this to
contribute to a continued positive development.
A majority also express a feeling of being proud of
the development that has taken place in SPT and are
of the opinion that Swedish police, in an international
comparison, have a prominent position in an important
area. The project work led to the identification
of factors for effective operations: the application of
the principles for conflict reduction and for command
as well as the competency of those working in the
operation. An increased integration of practical and
theoretical knowledge was achieved.
4.1.1 What was developed?
The interview answers are coherent in what was
developed during the project, what created motivation,
learning and led to a knowledge-based application
of SPT.
During the project field studies observations were
made of how the conflict reducing principles became
more applied. One area of importance identified was
the knowledge of counterparts: by understanding
theirs goal and intentions, history of different groups
that police encounter during operations conditions
are created to facilitate, communicate and differentiate
in order to reach self-policing. The uniformed
police started to communicate more and inform on
the intentions of the police to demonstrators/ supporters
and general public. The development of the
dialogue police was evident and the understanding for
the importance of communication in the operation for
the long term contact building and preventive work.
Regarding the command process, gold and silver
commanders became more consistent in their
intentions and goals, which became visible to others
as operational documents were more coherent and
seemed to build on one another. Focus in the next
part of the development work (in 2009) was on the
conditions that would allow group commanders
to effectively lead their groups well and to make
accurate situational and risk assessments. This was
necessary in order for group commanders to more
effectively communicate their aims and intentions to
every level of the NFO.
The process of event planning changed, and group
commanders were invited to take part in the preparation
work. New forms (e.g., scenario planning) were
used during planning days as well as during evaluations
of operations. The results of this development
are evident in the increased quality of communication
and interactions within the chain of command.
Several interviewees reported that they had changed
the way they command after reading the field-study
reports or participating in field-study groups.