Interpretation of the SafeGrowth method from a police perspective—Possibilities and hindrances in local crime prevention initiatives

This article is related directly to the First European Conference on Law Enforcement and Public Health (LEPH) held in Umea, Sweden in May 2023.

Abstract

In this article, the focus is on the crime prevention method SafeGrowth and its implementation in Drottninghög, Sweden. We highlight the police perspective on the implementation of SafeGrowth in Drottninghög, a risk area in Helsingborg, Sweden. Contrary to ordinary crime prevention programmes, the police are not the leading actors in the SafeGrowth process; instead, they join, as an equal party, the residents and other actors in the project. This article is partly the result of a process evaluation conducted between August 2021 and October 2022. The data consists of a focus group interview and an on-site visit and was compiled in October 2022. In the analysis, three themes related to the police perspective are identified: (1) the relationship between SafeGrowth, the area’s crime problem, and evidence-based policing; (2) the contribution of SafeGrowth in terms of collective efficacy, and (3) problems related to evaluating SafeGrowth within the area. In the results, it becomes clear that, from a police perspective, the implementation of SafeGrowth may become problematic. The problems pertain to the selection of both areas and local problems to work with, the conjunction of different descriptions of realities, and organization within the project. For SafeGrowth to succeed in Drottninghög and similar areas, police perspectives must be included more clearly in order to facilitate cooperation. Despite these problems, we identified that a major advantage of the SafeGrowth method was its contribution to collective efficacy in the area, which, in turn, can be helpful to everyday police work in Drottninghög.