En granskning av problemet otrygghet i nationella och lokala dokument rörande ett trygghetsfrämjande arbete/An examination of the ‘problem’ insecurity in national and local documents concerning safety work.

Abstract

The aim and objectives of this study is to examine how the ‘problem’ insecurity is treated in national and local documents for preventing crime and increasing safety. In order to address our questions both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods have been applied to key documents. To help us understand the multifaceted word insecurity and the assumptions that lie behind these policies, we have used Carol Bacchi's (2009) method What's the problem represented to be (WPR). Our analysis shows that insecurity is a complex phenomenon. In the examined documents the word insecurity is used to describe a perceived feeling of fear and, or, concern of being exposed to crime and we also see that it is used as a dichotomy for security, although it has been established that security is a concept with a broader meaning. We saw that throughout all the documents security measures aim to address a sense of vulnerability to crime or a fear and, or, concern of crime even though there is no indication that actual crime exists. It can be seen as a paradox that the insecurity is described as an experience of fear of crime, without necessarily having a connection to actual crime, but the measures that is presented to increase security is to reduce actual crime. Despite the fact that the problem of insecurity is complex and relatively problematic, authorities are delegating the responsibility for the problem to others to solve. In both national and local documents the proposed situational measures are delegated to the civil society, which can be seen as a deprioritization in the work of the authorities and gives people's sense of insecurity a lower dignity.