The Policeman as a worker – or not? : international impulses and national developments within the Swedish police, ca. 1850-1940

A modern type of police organization was introduced in Sweden after the revolutionary movement of 1848. As always this was done with a keen eye on the development in the rest of Europe, and the new type of police organization was based on the most modern of all: the London Metropolitan Police. In this text the focus is on the social background of the policemen and its crucial significance for the development of the police and its social, cultural and political outlook. In the early years most policemen came from a working class background, while in later years, due to a direct strategy instigated by the authorities, they mainly came from a rural background and almost all had training as noncommissioned officers in the military service. This in turn led to increasing conflicts within the police ranks, with the most outspoken years of internal hostilities being in the first two decades of the twentieth century