TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2015//
TI  - The myth of success: the emergence and maintenance of a specialized gang unit in Stockholm, Sweden
JO  - International journal of comparative and applied criminal justice
A1  - Rostami, Amir
A1  - Melde, Chris
A1  - Holgersson, Stefan
SP  - 199
EP  - 217
VL  - 39
IS  - 3
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 0192-4036
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01924036.2014.973054
ID  - ref1
ER  -