Associate professor of police education: "Management must act on an unhealthy culture"

She has taken part in SVT Nyheter Småland's report on the high-ranking command of the police in Växjö, who is charged with several cases of sexual offenses against colleagues.

- I know nothing more about the incident than has emerged in the media and it should go to the District Court so we can see what the verdict will be. But of course it is very serious that this happens within the police. But the positive is that it has been reported and has been lifted, she says.

Are you surprised when you hear about this?

- I don't think anyone is surprised that sexual harassment and abusive treatment is a problem. So sorry, no.

For over a year now, police training in Växjö has introduced mandatory discussions about sexual harassment and abusive treatment among its students and, among other things, informs about the police's own me too call # Emergency protection already on the first day of the training.

The goal is for more newly graduated police to dare to report if they are exposed to something in their workplace. But it also requires that the reports be taken seriously, says Cecilia Jonsson.

- We have to talk about what is often called the silence culture, that you dare to report, but also that it is taken seriously. You have to have a leadership that acts on what you might call an unhealthy work culture, ”she says.

How do you see how the management handled this case?

- I do not know anything about this incident and can not speculate on how one has acted. But on the other hand, I can see that we must continue to raise these issues. If there are accusations of this kind, what do we do with them? How do we act? These are issues that must be constantly discussed and taken seriously, of course.

Police Jan Ottosson is director of studies and teacher of police training at Linnaeus University in Växjö. He works to ensure that all police students receive training on the issue of sexual harassment, such as what you can do if you feel vulnerable.

- We have a lot of police students who go here, and if we can influence the culture to any degree in getting even better understanding police officers on these issues, it feels very motivating and good. So I feel that it is very sad that this is happening but at the same time the motivation to do an even better job is increasing, he says.

Play