Stefan Holgersson

Anabolic Androgenic Steroids-Use and Correlates among Gym Users-An Assessment Study Using Questionnaires and Observations at Gyms in the Stockholm Region

The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) use and offers to use among gym users in Stockholm County (Sweden), and to conduct a comparison of concordance in estimates of AAS and supplements at gyms between two data collection methods. A questionnaire was distributed to members at 36 training facilities and 1,752 gym users participated in the study. An observation study was conducted as covert participant observations at 64 gyms. According to the questionnaire, 3.9% of men reported life time use of AAS, 1.4% use during the past 12 months and 0.4% AAS use during past 30 days. Not only were there similar patterns found in the two methods, i.e., similar age and gender distributions for AAS use, but analyses of concordance showed that gyms with a higher prevalence of self-reported AAS-use and supplement use (questionnaire) showed a significantly higher proportion of observer-assessed AAS users. Analyses of individual predictors showed that AAS users were almost always young men, regular weight trainers and more often users of drugs and nutritional supplements. The higher prevalence of AAS use among gym users than in the general population makes the former an appropriate target group for AAS prevention. The connection between supplements, drugs and AAS use suggests that effective AAS prevention need to focus on several risk factors for AAS use. The clear resemblance in estimates between the observation and questionnaire data strengthen the credibility of the two methods.

Police officers’ professional knowledge

This paper documents knowledge applications by describing a total of 30 situations in policing where knowledge is required. In the discussion section, we allocate these knowledge applications to primary activities of the value shop. This research is important, because police knowledge tends to be implicit, tacit, and based on experience. To make knowledge available to colleagues and to promote knowledge‐sharing in general through different kinds of media, including modern information and communication technologies, a first important step is to identify and classify knowledge categories as described in this paper.

Stages of knowledge management technology in the value shop: the case of police investigation performance

Abstract: This paper is concerned with relationships between the use of information technology at different stages of the knowledge management technology stage model and the performance of police investigation units. The model consists of four stages: officer-to-technology systems, officer-to-officer systems, officer-to-information systems, and officer-to-application systems. The model was applied for information technology business value research, which examines the organizational performance impacts of information technology. In this paper we applied the value configuration of the value shop to describe and measure organizational performance. Based on an empirical study of Norwegian police investigation units, this research found that officer-to-technology systems and officer-to-information systems are the most important systems to improve police investigations in the value shop.

An Exploratory Analysis of Swedish Street Gangs : Applying the Maxson And Klein Typology to a Swedish Gang Dataset

In this study we investigate the application of the Maxson and Klein gang typology on a dataset of seven Swedish street gangs. Individual-level data on 239 gang members were analyzed. While some Swedish criminologists maintain that no street gangs exist in Sweden, this research project provides evidence to the contrary. Findings support the utility of the Maxson and Klein typology. Results show that the “compressed gang” was the most common type of street gang in the dataset. This finding is also in concert with other European gang studies, adding further evidence for the applicability of the gang typology. Findings also suggest a similar pattern of gang development and structure to that of American and European street gangs.

How knowledge organizations work: the case of detectives

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize detectives in police investigations as knowledge workers.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a literature review covering knowledge organizations, police organizations, police investigations, and detectives as knowledge workers.Findings – The paper finds that the changing role of the detective as a resource influences investigation performance in solving complex and organized crime.Research limitations/implications – This exploratory research provides no final conclusions.Practical implications – Leadership in police investigations needs to focus on knowledge management among detectives rather than information collection in each criminal case.Originality/value – Until this paper, the secretive nature of the detective world has been unexplored by manpower researchers.

Whistle-blowing in the police

It has been argued that police organizations make whistle-blowing very difficult. This paper reports from a study of all court cases against police employees in Norway in 2008. In the empirical study it was found that 30% of the cases originated from internal whistle-blowing while 70% of the cases originated from external complaints.

The myth of success: the emergence and maintenance of a specialized gang unit in Stockholm, Sweden

Street gangs and organized crime groups pose a unique challenge to police departments across the globe. Given their penchant for public displays of affiliation through well-recognized signs and symbols, their presence is often associated with media attention and public scrutiny, which threatens the legitimacy of the police and creates added pressure to generate a specific and public response to the threat these groups pose. The current study documents how the Stockholm County, Sweden, police developed and maintained an anti-gang operation in response to an emerging gang problem. While police officials labeled the anti-gang initiative a success in the news media, analyses of prosecution statistics and internal police documents demonstrate a less than ideal effect of this operation. Potential reasons for the discrepancy in public pronouncements of programmatic success relative to evaluation of official data are discussed.

Operational knowledge of patrolling police officers in Sweden: management implications

Patrolling police officers need a solid knowledge base working in different locations and situations. Inductive and deductive research identified 31 descriptive statements, which represent knowledge categories for police officers on the street. In this paper, the 31 categories are classified into three cluster sets for knowledge dimensions. The clusters are labelled cognitive dimensions, technical dimensions and social dimensions, respectively. From a police management perspective, developing police officers along these very different dimensions represents a substantial challenge.

How the Use of ICT can Contribute to a Misleading Picture of Conditions – A Five-Step Process

This paper contributes to the limited research on roles ICT can play in impression-management strategies and is based on case studies done in the Swedish Police. It also gives a theoretical contribution by adopting a holistic approach to explain how ICT can contribute to giving a misleading picture of conditions. Output generated by ICT has nowadays a central role in follow-up activities and decision-making. Even if this type of output, often in colourful, presentable, graphical arrangements, gives the impression of being accurate and reliable there is a risk of defective data quality. The phenomena can be described as a process divided into five steps. The first step is about how the data is generated and/or collected. The second step is linked to how the data is registered. The third step is about the output generated from the ICT-systems. The fourth step is how the output of ICT is selected for presentation. The fifth step concerns how output generated by ICT is interpreted. This paper shows that ICT can easily be used in impression-management strategies. For example, that personnel take shortcuts to affect the statistics rather than applying methods that may give the desired effects.