Tackling honour related violence is part of the Dutch policy on domestic violence. On the police level a centre of expertise was installed, the LEC EGG. Next to strategies with regard to detection, the LEC EGG has put forward instructions with regard to the application of police mediation in cases of honour related violence. These rules, the ‘7 golden W’s’, are presented and discussed, paying attention to the institutional role of the police.

In the traditional understanding of police culture as well as in the criticism against the use of the concept of ‘police culture’, not much attention has been paid towards the influence of the representation of police work and crime in the media. Although since the pioneering studies in the sixties and seventies of the last century it has been made clear that police work is not limited to dealing with crime and criminal justice, the mass media for decades have presented a completely different image: one of thrill seeking and hardcore action. Police officers themselves tend to ‘sensationalize’ their work. Police culture is no longer understood as a deterministic coping mechanism, but is rooted in active and constructive participation of police officers. As a consequence we must pay attention to representation of ‘the police’ by the media and ask ourselves how identity work by police officers is influenced by the representation of crime and the police in the (new) media.