Police Signaling Conformance
Petter Gottschalk · 2024
Abstract This chapter discusses conformance within a national police unit. Serious fraud offices such as the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim) are facing many challenges when combatting white-collar and corporate crime. Press releases represent an element of facing such challenges, as the messages are an important vehicle for the organization to disclose organizational activities to the public. This chapter reviews sixty-nine press releases published by the Norwegian Økokrim from June 2022 to November 2023. The presented research applies the theory of focal concerns to identify main themes in the press releases. Three themes emerged: offender conviction, impression management, and crime deterrence. Offender prosecution followed by offender conviction is at the core of Økokrim’s business. Impression management serves the purpose of emphasizing the important role of the national authority in society. The subjective perception of detection and prosecution by potential offenders can be influenced by crime-deterrence messages.