Reducing Ethnic Profiling in the European Union - Open Society ...

The strategy includes multiple initiatives: youth councils; volunteers; a supportcenter for young crime victims and offenders; a cooperative council of boroughcommanders; a collaborative framework for relations between the police and localschools; and “Nova”—an initiative engaging some 600 young people involved inviolent or organized crime. Two of these: youth councils and volunteers are lookedat more closely below.Police leaders state that in addition to improving police-youth relations, the initiativeshave increased awareness of ethnic profiling more generally. More positive involvementwith people in their own neighborhoods has provided lower rank officers aswell as borough commanders with greater insight into residents’ living conditionsand perceptions of the police.Youth CouncilsStockholm County Police’s youth council first met in September 2005, followingthe Paris riots and violent clashes between youth and police in Ronna, Stockholm.The first meeting was turbulent, with several young people declaring an outright“hatred towards the police.” Since then, 32 youths, most of ethnic minority origin,have joined the county-wide council. At council meetings, police discuss their rolewith youth representatives, and young people can raise issues of police conduct. In2007, eight additional local councils were established; each led by the local boroughcommander, demonstrating that youth outreach is taken seriously. The StockholmPolice Service explains that council members become ambassadors to other youngpeople, enhancing trust and understanding between youth and police.VolunteersBased in part on the British “Community Support Officer” model, the Stockholmpolice began recruiting volunteers in 2004. Several hundred volunteers between theages of 18 and 84 have since been trained. Although under Swedish law volunteershave fewer powers than their British counterparts, they are given mandatory trainingand have become an essential aspect of neighborhood policing. Indeed, in 2008,the volunteer project became a formal part of the police authority in Stockholm andcurrently some 30 local police stations work with volunteers. Their tasks are decidedlocally, with the main objective of building trust between the police and neighborhoodresidents. The Stockholm Chief of Police stated that: “The volunteer program isincredibly important to us. It provides us with a possibility of reaching out to groupsof people we would otherwise not be in contact with.”164 COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND INVOLVEMENT