Negotiating hybrid governance in policing: the case of Sweden’s national gang exit programme

This article explores the negotiation of centralised standards and street-level discretion within Sweden’s national gang exit programme, a multi-agency intervention led by the police. Drawing on qualitative analysis of policy documents and interviews with police officers at national, regional and local levels, the study theorises three mechanisms – local translation, professional duality and symbolic compliance – that mediate the relationship between national guidelines and frontline practice. The findings reveal that, although centralised directives and EU definitions of organised crime aim to promote equality and legal certainty, the realities of risk assessment and motivational evaluation necessitate situational adaptation and tacit knowledge, resulting in a partial decoupling of formal rules from everyday policing. This hybrid governance is not merely a structural phenomenon but is continually enacted and negotiated through professional culture and local adaptation. The research positions Sweden as a critical case for European police centralisation, refining institutional theory by situating it within the context of police-led desistance work. The analysis underscores the importance of recognising and addressing the tensions inherent in multi-agency desistance work, suggesting that effective exit programmes require both procedural compliance and the capacity to foster trust, agency and meaningful change among participants. The article concludes by advocating for a shift from administrative compliance towards outcome-based evaluation, highlighting the need for holistic approaches that capture the complexities of desistance and policing. These insights have significant implications for the design and assessment of collaborative interventions in contemporary policing.