I have found it disappointing that most of the LLers that have mentioned police have referred to them in a negative way. I have heard many express the opinion that LL does not need a police force. I would have agreed with their negative opinions about police until I started working for EMS and Fire agencies and had to work alongside police at traffic accidents and other incidents.
All of the personal contact I had had with police in my youth was extremely negative (intimidation tactics and threats during speeding stops, vehicle illegally searched because of skateboarding) but the contact I had while working as a first responder was very positive and I got to see people who really wanted to be heroes for their community. I remember one police officer, who was beloved by the community, give a full-on emotional and motivational “come-back talk” to a guy whose family had called 911 to report him wanting to commit suicide.
I think a country that lacks any form of police is a horrible idea. Young men might feel comfortable in such a country, but women and the elderly will never feel safe there. But, because I agree with many of the criticisms of police, I have been searching for different ways to do policing and I have looked at many different countries police systems. Most of the systems I’ve looked at are basically copies of each other. The Icelandic Police system is a bit different and worth looking at.
Iceland
Unarmed Patrols: Regular officers do not routinely carry firearms — one of only a few countries (alongside places like Norway, New Zealand, and the UK outside Northern Ireland) with this policy. They typically equip themselves with batons, pepper spray, tasers, and handcuffs. Firearms stay locked in patrol cars and require supervisor approval for use.
Low Use of Force: Iceland recorded its first and only fatal police shooting in 2013. This rarity stems from low violent crime, including one of Europe’s lowest homicide rates (around 0.5–1 per 100,000 people annually).
Special Armed Unit: The Víkingasveitin (“Viking Squad”), a tactical unit under the National Commissioner, handles high-risk situations like armed suspects, counter-terrorism, or VIP protection. Modeled after Norway’s Delta unit, it comprises about 46–55 highly trained officers and serves as Iceland’s SWAT equivalent. (Iceland lacks a standing military, so this unit fills some related roles.)
Overall, Iceland’s policing emphasizes de-escalation, prevention, and community integration rather than militarization, enabled by the society’s low violence levels. Recent increases in organized crime and tourism-related incidents have sparked debates about tools like Tasers, but the core unarmed model remains intact.
Personal Anecdotes
In the 2000’s I got to visit a friend’s grandfather at his mountain cabin. The man had been a rural police chief for many years and had been active in the 1960’s to 1990’s. He talked to us about the change that he saw happen to policing. He said policing used to not have many nationally standardized methods and so individual officers could use methods that best fit their personalities. He personally took great pride in being able to talk anyone down from potential violence and into giving themselves up peacefully. He said he saw the shift during his career where policing became about just barking orders at citizens and expecting immediate compliance rather then reasoning with them and having a dialogue.
I personally have a story where a suicidal patient tried to jump out of the back of the moving ambulance and so my partner was holding him in a bear hug to protect him. We arrived at the hospital with him still in the bear hug. I asked the police officer in the hospital to come out and help us. Big mistake on my part because the cop immediately escalated everything; the patient and the cop started trash-talking each other. The cop said something that started with “Oh yeah? I will…” And the the patient screamed back “Do it! Kill me!” Luckily I was able to fix my mistake by waving the cop back and stating something to the patient that started with “Come on bro, let’s just…” The guys posture dramatically softened at being asked nicely to do something, and we checked him into the hospital without incident.
Parting Info From The Research I’ve done
I was hoping I’d find a country that had an amazing police system and I could just do a more straight-forward adaptation to create the “police-of-the-future”. That did not happen, and I saw tons of the exact same police system as I looked at country after country. I had to realize that the “police-of-the-future” would be highly innovative and also that the focus would probably be more on the factors that motivate the individual officers rather than anything wild, like new technology.
I did forward my article “New outside-the-box police system” to The Future Policing Institute but I have not heard back from them.
Some sources for this and my other police article:
The Future Policing Institute’s blog
redditDOTcom/r/AskLE/comments/1ntr562/what_separates_good_vs_bad_detective_police_work/