Introduction:

Research on Swedish police and policing has been conducted for more than six decades, and several reviews of Swedish police research have been carried out in the past. However, none have focused exclusively on empirical studies, and the scope and character of such studies has long been unclear. To contribute to fill this knowledge gap, and to facilitate an informed discussion on the current state of empirical evidence, gaps and future research agendas, we are currently conducting a scoping review of published researchand grey literature reporting original results of empirical studies on Swedish police. Departing from the question What is the scope and character of empirical studies onSwedish police published between 2010 and 2024, and what changes can be discerned overtime? we examine empirical studies on Swedish police with a special focus on extent, topics of interest, broader research themes, methods, research actors and types of publications.

Methods:

The literature is located by systematic searches in bibliographic databases, targeted hand searches and requests to academic research environments. Studies considered for inclusion are assessed in relation to pre-defined selection criteria by two reviewers independently. A data extraction template is used to chart and extract data for further analysis.

Results:

Analysis is in progress. Ten (preliminary) main themes have crystallized out of the specific topics of interest in the included studies: Police organization and profession; Collaboration; The police and the public; Maintenance of law and order; Criminal offences; Critical incidents and crisis management; Victims and witnesses; Social categories; Environment and place; and Knowledge/tool development.

Conclusions:

Our final results will provide a well-grounded overview of empirical studieson the Swedish police research field during the last 15 years. By this, the scoping review opens for discussion on what conclusions that can be drawn about the knowledge base - and what knowledge gaps that remain.