This special issue of the Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education emerged from discussions initiated at the Nordic Police Research Seminar hosted by Malmö University and the Department of Police Work in August 2025. The conference highlighted both the rapid development of police research in the Nordic countries and the growing need to strengthen research on police education as a distinct field of inquiry. Questions concerning professionalisation, evidence-based training, pedagogy, legitimacy, ethics, and the relationship between academia and police practice have become increasingly important as policing evolves in response to social, technological, and political change. Together, the contributions in this special issue explore the development of police education as a professional practice and the emergence of police education as a distinct and increasingly important area of inquiry.

All contributions to this special issue have undergone peer review.

The first article, From critical outsiders to integration? Reflections on the development of Nordic police research, by Paul Larsson, examines how Nordic police research has developed over the past decade. Revisiting concerns raised by Nordic and international scholars in 2015, the article considers the substantial growth and increasing institutionalisation of the field, particularly in Norway and Sweden. Based on a review of publications in three Nordic journals, Larsson highlights the growing role of researchers embedded in police education and police organisations, the increasing thematic diversity of police research, and the continued scarcity of comparative Nordic studies. The article also revisits a longstanding question in police research: how increasing proximity to the police affects academic independence, critical perspectives, and the relationship between insiders and outsiders in the production of knowledge about policing.

The second article focuses specifically on research on police education. In Studies on Swedish police education and training 2010–2024: an overview of publications, methods, Police- and education foci, by Linda Weichselbraun and colleagues reviews Swedish police education research. They demonstrate that the field has expanded considerably. Yet it remains fragmented, with limited methodological diversity and relatively weak integration between academia and police practice. The review also shows that most studies focus on basic police education, while professional development, continuing education, and workplace learning within police organisations have received far less attention.

The issue also highlights the importance of professional learning and reflective practice in everyday policing and the democratic and relational dimensions of police education. In the article Police documentation, accountability and legal safeguards: educational implications of recurring criticism from the Swedish parliamentary ombudsman, Kristina Borodina examines recurring criticism from the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman (JO) regarding deficient police documentation. Documentation is analysed not merely as an administrative requirement but as a core component of applied legal reasoning, accountability, and ethical professional judgment. By showing how recurring failures concern delayed documentation, vague formulations, and insufficiently articulated legal reasoning, the article points to broader challenges in how legality, proportionality, and responsibility are internalised and practiced within police education and professional development. The study thereby contributes to ongoing discussions about how police education can strengthen reflective professionalism and legally grounded decision-making in operational policing.

The article Att se sig själv genom den andre - Pedagogiska och polisiära grepp i samverkan mellan polisutbildning och gymnasieskola: en et(n)isk fråga? by Jesper Fundberg and colleagues examining encounters between police students and upper-secondary students with immigrant backgrounds illustrates how police education is not solely about operational competence, but also about developing ethical reflexivity, professional identity, and understanding of citizens' lived experiences. By analysing how processes of othering and stereotypical assumptions can be challenged through structured encounters, the study highlights the potential of police education to contribute to legitimacy, trust-building, and reflective professional practice.

Taken together, the articles in this special issue demonstrate that police education today must be understood as a complex and multidimensional field in which questions of pedagogy, evidence, professionalism, technology, ethics, and public trust intersect. The contributions also illuminate the ongoing tension between police education as an academic endeavour and as a professional training practice, where scientific foundations must be balanced against operational relevance and organisational needs.

The special issue also points towards several important future directions for research on police education. There is a clear need for more empirical studies of professional learning and competence development within police organisations, particularly in relation to continuing education and organisational learning. The field would also benefit from more experimental, simulation-based, and longitudinal research designs capable of evaluating the effects of different educational approaches. Furthermore, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, and the increasing use of advanced technologies in policing raise important questions for future police education research. Other pressing issues concern how police education can strengthen democratic competence, professional ethics, relational policing, and the ability to operate effectively within increasingly pluralistic societies.

Finally, the articles collectively underscore the importance of stronger collaboration between academia and police organisations in developing a more research-based, reflective, and sustainable model of police education in the Nordic context. This is particularly timely in Sweden, where police science is currently taking shape as an academic field. The continued development of the field raises important questions about its scope, knowledge base, relationship to established disciplines, and connection to police education and professional practice. How these relationships are negotiated will be important not only for the future of police education, but also for the development of police science as a distinct and sustainable academic field in Sweden.

Caroline Mellgren & Joakim Ingrell, guest editors, and Fredrik Portin, editor of the Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education