@article{ref1,
title="The myth of success: the emergence and maintenance of a specialized gang unit in Stockholm, Sweden",
journal="International journal of comparative and applied criminal justice",
year="2015",
author="Rostami, Amir and Melde, Chris and Holgersson, Stefan",
volume="39",
number="3",
pages="199-217",
abstract="Street gangs and organized crime groups pose a unique challenge to police departments across the globe. Given their penchant for public displays of affiliation through well-recognized signs and symbols, their presence is often associated with media attention and public scrutiny, which threatens the legitimacy of the police and creates added pressure to generate a specific and public response to the threat these groups pose. The current study documents how the Stockholm County, Sweden, police developed and maintained an anti-gang operation in response to an emerging gang problem. While police officials labeled the anti-gang initiative a success in the news media, analyses of prosecution statistics and internal police documents demonstrate a less than ideal effect of this operation. Potential reasons for the discrepancy in public pronouncements of programmatic success relative to evaluation of official data are discussed.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0192-4036",
doi="10.1080/01924036.2014.973054",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01924036.2014.973054"
}