Omedelbart samarbete : En rapport om polisers handlingsutrymme vid handräckning enligt LVU och LVM

Den här rapporten handlar om polisers handlingsutrymme när socialtjänsten begärt handräckning av polisen för att tvångsomhänderta barn eller missbrukare. Detta är svåra situationer då det är en maktutövning som måste hanteras med varsamhet i förhållande till den som skall omhändertas. Rapporten bygger på intervjuer med poliser och socialarbetare och visar hur lagstiftning och organisation sätter de yttre ramarna för handlingsutrymmet. Utifrån konkreta handräckningssituationer beskrivs hur de olika kompetenserna från de två yrkesgrupperna läggs samman. De intervjuade uttalar en ömsesidig respekt för varandras kunskapsområden.This report is about the co-operation between the police and the social services in the specific situation when the social services apply for assistance for taking children and drug-abusers in to involuntary care immediately. The police have an authority to use violence that social workers do not have. Therefore social workers need the police to accomplish this task. The report aims to reach a deeper understanding for how the polices' discretion is used in the situations when the police assist the social services to have children or drug abusers taken immediately in to care. This report comes from a study that is based on focus-group interviews and individual interviews with police officers and social workers from two districts in the south of Sweden. Eleven interviews have been conducted with thirty-two informants. All interviews were recorded and later transcribed in to text. In the analysis and interpretation of the texts, three aspects have been in focus: the legislation, the organisational conditions and the specific discretions for police and social worker. The theoretical perspective focuses on the relation between individuals and society through governmental organisations and the role and discretion of civil servants. The results show complex situations handled by the police and social worker in co-operation with respect for each other's competence and for the user. In the specific situations the roles for the actors are clear. Discretions are first defined by the legislation, then by the organisational aspects and in concrete action the actors experience based knowledge and personal features govern how the given discretion will be used and thereby what actions will be taken