Police Survey: Procedures and Prevalence of Intoxicated Witnesses and Victims in Sweden

Abstract

Background: Despite the common occurrence of alcohol-related crimes, the Swedish police authority currently lacks national guidelines for dealing with intoxicated victims/witnesses.Method: A survey was designed to explore the police procedures when encountering intoxicated individuals and to compare the findings with international statistics. To facilitate international comparison, the survey was modeled after previous research and adapted to a Swedish context. A solicitation containing a link to the survey was emailed to all police regions in Sweden.Results: Police officers (N = 133) indicated that it was common to interact with intoxicated witnesses/victims. Some police departments had local guidelines on how to conduct investigative interviews with intoxicated individuals, but it was mostly up to each officer to make a subjective judgement regarding interactions with this witness group. Data evidenced that the high prevalence rate of intoxicated witnesses/victims in Sweden is similar to rates in Australia, the U.S. and U.K. It appears that the Swedish police are unaware of research concerning when and how to conduct investigative interviews with intoxicated witnesses and victims, a potentially vulnerable group.Conclusions: A closer collaboration between police and researchers is encouraged in order to develop guidelines for investigations with intoxicated individuals.