In contrast to the United States, the Nordic countries have their own unique approaches to law enforcement that have evolved out of histories with different racial and economic politics. As calls for police reform continue to be debated at every level of government in the U.S., three panelists from the Nordic countries join us to discuss policing and police reform in those countries: Lars Holmberg (Professor of Law, JUR Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Law, University of Copenhagen), Kimmo Himberg (Senior Researcher, the Police University College, Tampere, Finland), and Margrét Valdimarsdóttir (Assistant Professor of Police Science at the University of Akureyri). With ASF Fellow Vanessa Barker (Associate Professor of Sociology, Stockholm University and Director of Border Criminologies) as moderator, they’ll discuss Nordic policing systems, public attitudes towards police, and the ways in which debate has spurred reform over the years. They will contrast Nordic and U.S. policing policies as well as approaches to weapons use, training, and deployment.
They’ll also discuss how to regain and maintain trust between the police and the communities they serve, current issues facing the police in the Nordic region, and reform within the police structure in the past ten years.

Please send audience questions ahead of the discussion to info@amscan.org or in the chat during the event. Select questions will be chosen for a Q&A following the conversation. Registration is required; please sign up at the link above.

The discussion will later be available to stream on YouTube.