Olsen, Hilgunn (2017) Open drug scenes and police strategies in Oslo, Norway, Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention, 18:2, 141-156, DOI: 10.1080/14043858.2017.1388028

As part of her ongoing PhD-project, Hilgunn Olsen has looked into differences in police strategies related to open drug scenes in Oslo. Police strategies in Oslo’s drug scenes have changed from strictly punitive to a mixture of harm-reducing and punitive efforts. The police change back and forth between these strategies, and within the same time period they sometimes engage in both. Within the current drug policy, the dilemmas of practical police work persist, as inhabitants of the drug scene perform numerous criminal acts and simultaneously are in need of care.