Medborgarlöften som verktyg i lokalt polisarbete : Styrning, legitimitet och utfall

Sammanfattning

Citizen promises (medborgarlöften) represent a key Swedish policing initiative aimed at strengthening local democratic legitimacy, citizen trust, and collaborative crime prevention. Through structured agreements between the police, municipalities, and local communities, these promises seek to translate national policy ambitions into context-sensitive, problem-oriented action. This study critically examines how citizen promises are formulated and operationalised in national steering documents and local practice, with particular attention to tensions between aspirational rhetoric and implementability. Employing reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2021) of national policy and guidance documents alongside a strategic sample of seven local citizen promises and their associated follow-up reports (covering both vulnerable urban areas and smaller/rural municipalities), the study identifies four overarching themes: (1) collaboration and shared situational awareness as a foundational working method (anchored in the EST model); (2) early prevention focused on children and young people to counter criminal recruitment; (3) trust-building through visible presence, dialogue, and citizen involvement; and (4) locally adapted, measurable commitments with systematic follow-up. Local evaluations demonstrate a high degree of implementation fidelity, often with over-delivery on quantitative targets and consistent application of evidence-based methods. However, independent reviews (Brå, Riksrevisionen, and academic studies) highlight persistent challenges at the systemic level with vagueness in formulation, limited feedback to citizens, resource constraints, and difficulties in demonstrating causal impact. These findings are interpreted through the lenses of procedural justice, community policing, and implementation theory. The study shows that citizen promises have undergone significant professiona-lization in recent years and now function as a well-structured tool for local, problem-oriented policing. Nevertheless, their potential to strengthen police legitimacy and long-term community safety remains contingent upon clearer formulations, more robust citizen feedback mechanisms, differentiated resource allocation – especially in vulnerable areas – and a genuine integration of qualitative aspects into everyday police practice. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.