<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This article explores Swedish Police Authority strategies on creating a sense of safety through social media. Previous research has generally focused on proximity policing, practices of informing citizens, proactive police work, crime reduction, surveillance, and preservation of trust and less on the digital creation of a sense of safety. The study consists of semistructured interviews with 20 police officers, media strategists, and communicators from the Swedish Police Authority in a region associated with high crime rates. The results of this national case study indicate that a social media–driven creation of a sense of safety depends on how the intertwined strategies of transmediality, presence, and transparency are communicatively handled. This article adds to the literature by demonstrating how the Swedish Police in Police Region South (PRS) use and understand social media to create a sense of safety.</p>
</abstract>

This article explores Swedish Police Authority strategies on creating a sense of safety through social media. Previous research has generally focused on proximity policing, practices of informing citizens, proactive police work, crime reduction, surveillance, and preservation of trust and less on the digital creation of a sense of safety. The study consists of semistructured interviews with 20 police officers, media strategists, and communicators from the Swedish Police Authority in a region associated with high crime rates. The results of this national case study indicate that a social media–driven creation of a sense of safety depends on how the intertwined strategies of transmediality, presence, and transparency are communicatively handled. This article adds to the literature by demonstrating how the Swedish Police in Police Region South (PRS) use and understand social media to create a sense of safety.

“Malmö is not Sweden's Chicago”: Policing and the challenge of creating a sense of safety through social media strategies

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This article explores Swedish Police Authority strategies on creating a sense of safety through social media. Previous research has generally focused on...

Position	Number	Number who use social media as one of their work tasks
Municipality police officer^*	4	3
Community police officer^*	4	4
Uniformed police officer/inspector	4	4
Head of police district or local police district	5	2
Public relations officer or communicator	3	3

“Malmö is not Sweden's Chicago”: Policing and the challenge of creating a sense of safety through social media strategies

Published Online: Feb 16, 2023

Page range: 44 - 64

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2023-0003

Keywords
police, social media, creating a sense of safety, organisational communication, strategic communication

© 2023 Jens Sjöberg et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Swedish Police employees’ positions in the PRS and their use of social media

“Malmö is not Sweden's Chicago”: Policing and the challenge of creating a sense of safety through social media strategies

Published Online: Feb 16, 2023

Page range: 44 - 64

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2023-0003

Keywordspolice, social media, creating a sense of safety, organisational communication, strategic communication

© 2023 Jens Sjöberg et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Swedish Police employees’ positions in the PRS and their use of social media

Keywords
police, social media, creating a sense of safety, organisational communication, strategic communication