Policing of Marginalized Drug Users in Public Space Between Control and Protection PhD Dissertation Tobias Kammersgaard Aarhus BSS Aarhus University Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research 2020 2 Policing of Marginalized Drug Users in Public Space: Between Control and Protection PhD Dissertation Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences School of Business and Social Sciences Aarhus University © Tobias Kammersgaard Handed in for assessment: 13-02-2020 Public defense: 19-05-2020 Supervisor: Associate Professor Esben Houborg, Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University Co-supervisor: Associate Professor Thomas Friis Søgaard, Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University Assessment committee: Professor Vibeke Asmussen Frank (chair), Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University Professor Helene Oppen Ingebrigtsen Gundhus, Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, University of Oslo Associate Professor Michael Shiner, Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics 3 4 CONTENTS LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9 ENGLISH SUMMARY 11 DANSK RESUMUÉ 15 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 19 Social marginalization and the use of public space 20 The policing of public space 22 Research questions 25 The Danish policy context 33 Defining key terms 36 Soft and hard policing 41 CHAPTER 2. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK 47 Michel Foucault and his legacy in the social sciences 49 Using theory for empirical research 51 The roots and uses of ‘governmentality’ 52 Pre-liberal and liberal understandings of ‘police’ 54 Analytical framework of governmentality studies 58 Criticisms of the governmentality analytic 63 Critique and social transformation 67 CHAPTER 3. METHODS AND DATA 73 Open drug scene 1: Vesterbro, Copenhagen 74 Open drug scene 2: Klostertorvet, Aarhus 83 Different sources of data 90 Assessing the significance of the data 99 From data collection to data analysis 102 Developing the analysis 105 Reflecting on the research process 116 Ethical considerations 125 CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSION 129 Analytical implications 133 Policy implications 137 REFERENCES 141 LIST OF APPENDICES 163 5 6 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS1 Article 1 Kammersgaard, T. (2019). Harm Reduction Policing: From Drug Law Enforcement to Protection. Contemporary Drug Problems, 46(4), 345-362. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091450919871313 Article 2 Kammersgaard, T. (2019) Private Security Guards Policing Public Space: Using Soft Power In Place of Legal Authority, Policing and Society, Published online: 06 November 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2019.1688811 Article 3 Kammersgaard, T. (2020). Being ‘In Place’, Being ‘Out of Place’: Problematising Marginalised Drug Users in Two Cities. International Journal of Drug Policy, 75, 102589. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.10.014 1 The articles found in this dissertation are extended versions of the published articles listed in this overview. 7 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I was ecstatic when I was awarded the scholarship to do this doctoral research and now, three years later, it is hard to comprehend how fast this time has gone by. I have enjoyed my time as a PhD student at the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research very, very much. I could not imagine a better place for me to be carrying out this project. It is undoubtedly to the merit of great, supportive colleagues that I was able to complete this project. It might have become a cliché to state in the acknowledgements that scholarly work is a collaborative process, but it was not until writing this dissertation that I fully realized that this is, in fact, a very fitting description. Consequently, I would like to thank all of those who have offered their feedback on my, sometimes embarrassingly, half-baked ideas concerning this dissertation. These include: anonymous reviewers, journal editors, delegates at conferences, colleagues, my fellow PhD students, strangers and friends. However, some still deserve to be thanked individually. Thank you to all the PhD students at the centre: Kirsten, Line, Sinikka, Mads, Priya, Julie, Marie, Mie, Lea, Louise and Morgan. It has been great discussing both academic and not so academic subjects with you. Thank you to my main supervisor, Esben Houborg, who was always supportive of my ideas and allowed me to develop them independently, while at the same time provided guidance and reassurance when I was in doubt. Thank you for being a very caring mentor in this process. Thank you to Thomas Friis Søgaard, who acted as co-supervisor on the project and who would always generously express his enthusiasm and interest in the study in ways that encouraged me to keep on going. Thank you for always being helpful and kind. I could honestly not have asked for better supervisors and I am grateful that you were both willing to supervise the project. Thank you to Mariana Valverde, who warmly welcomed me and my partner during the cold winter term in Toronto. Thank you for being a very kind and responsive host, for being generous with your time and for taking an interest in my project. It was a great inspiration for me to able be to discuss issues around theory and criminology while staying at the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto. Thank you to all the research participants in the project who let me question them about their work and everyday life. A special thank you to the security guard who kindly allowed me to follow him around and ask him peculiar questions about his work habits. Also, a special thank you goes to the police officer who faithfully let me study his policing practices and who was always happy to elaborate on them. I have a great deal of respect for the work that both of these men are doing and I can surely say that I could never do what they do every day. Thank you to my good friend Frank Nielsen, with whom I have discussed many of the issues concerning this dissertation over a couple of beers. A special thank you for alerting me to the project of installing private security guards on a public square in Aarhus, which came to make up a large part of this dissertation. Last but not least, thank you to my dear Lejla for always believing in me, even when I did not do so myself. You have truly been my rock in this process. Without you this would have been immensely more lonely and challenging. I am exceedingly grateful for what we have together. 9 10 ENGLISH SUMMARY The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the problematization of the presence of marginalized drug users in public space and the specific governmental responses connected to this. The project sheds light on how marginalized drug users in public spaces are spoken about and problematized in the context of increased gentrification, beautification and privatization of our cities. Furthermore, it is investigated how marginalized drug users and their presence in public space are governed, specifically by looking at two cases of foot patrol policing in two public spaces situated in the two major Danish cities, namely Aarhus and Copenhagen. The research questions that this dissertation sets out to answer are: 1) How are marginalized drug users in the two public spaces problematized? 2) What are the ‘logics’ and the specific ‘techniques’ utilized in governing marginalized drug users in the two public spaces? The research questions are formed within a Foucauldian analytical framework and the terms ‘problematization’, ‘logics’ and ‘techniques’ are theoretically informed by post-Foucauldian governmentality studies. Problematization refers to the process of something becoming a ‘problem’, logics refer to the assumptions about reality and the ethical justifications that underlie governing, and techniques refer to the specific procedures through which this governing takes place. It is concluded that both of the policing projects operated in a space between control and protection. In other words, the two projects simultaneously operated with a logic of control and a logic of protection. This meant that policing practices were aimed at controlling the movement and behavior of marginalized drug users, while also being concerned with their protection, both from self-inflicted harm, principally through drug consumption, as well as harm from others, in terms of violence and assault. Additionally, both policing projects operated with a minimal level of coercion, through practices of ‘soft power’, which could be said to be the favored policing technique of the two projects. However, while the two policing projects could be said to be based on similar logics and techniques on a general level, there were still important differences in their specific operations. The dissertation is made up of three different articles which explore different aspects of the problematization and policing of marginalized drug users in public space in the two research sites. Article 1: Harm Reduction Policing: From Drug Law Enforcement to Protection. This article provides an investigation of how policing of an open drug scene had been organized in Copenhagen, 11 Denmark, since drug possession had been partially decriminalized following the introduction of drug consumption rooms in the area. The article argues that decriminalization enabled a shift in the ‘logics’ of policing by enabling the production of an alternative ‘governable identity’ for the drug-using subject, where people who use drugs could more readily be perceived as citizens with rights, rather than just as offenders. Accordingly, in this new logic the violence and victimization experienced by marginalized people who use drugs could more readily be identified as proper objects for police action. In the article, I used the concept of ‘harm reduction policing’ to describe these alternative policing practices. The case demonstrates that major shifts away from policing practices that harm marginalized drug users are possible and, by describing these practices, the aim of the study is to contribute to our knowledge of how the police can become potential allies rather than adversaries to marginalized drug users, as well as to harm reduction and wider public health initiatives.