Attitudes of Newly Recruited Icelandic Police Students Towards Diversity
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University of Akureyri
Iceland -
University of Iceland Iceland
Abstract
Scholars have described prejudice towards various minority groups as one of the negative characteristics of police culture. Visible prejudice within the police has serious consequences for trust and legitimacy, thus reducing the willingness of the public to cooperate with them. However, little is known about the attitudes of police students towards police work in a diverse society in the Nordic context. This paper focuses on newly recruited police students in the Icelandic police university program. Police students’ attitudes towards diversity are analyzed in the context of various possible work-related scenarios. The study is based on a survey of all newly recruited police students in Iceland, conducted yearly from 2018 until 2023. The findings indicate that police students are generally positive towards at least certain types of diversity measures in policing, although support for diversity has declined slightly in the most recent year.
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Author Biographies
Eyrún Eyþórsdóttir is an Assistant Professor of Police Studies at the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Akureyri. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Iceland and has about 20 years of experience in policing as a police officer. Her research mainly focuses on police work within a diverse society and hate crimes.
Margrét Valdimarsdóttir is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Iceland. She holds a PhD in Criminology & Criminal Justice from CUNY/John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Her research primarily focuses on the interaction between the police and the public, immigration, and youth delinquency and violence.