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Anti-vaccine demonstrators. Extinction rebellion activists blocking a downtown intersection. Opposing factions yelling at each other outside a Stockholm courthouse. An anti-Muslim neo-fascist agitator.

In Sweden, all these people have a right to freedom of expression — and the dialogue police are there to protect that right. Their unit was created in the wake of 2001 anti-E.U. protests in Gothenburg. Police shot three protesters, and Swedes were shocked by the violence. The result was the creation of a unit meant to manage relationships with demonstrators to prevent violence (rather than reacting to it) and to de-escalate effectively, when necessary.

THE DIALOGUE POLICE is a vérité-style documentary that follows the unit closely, as they mediate between protesters, the public, and even their own colleagues — who, in some cases, seem overly enthusiastic about dragging demonstrators away and arresting them. We also see them in more intimate moments, as they grapple with the ethics of the job, and try to stay neutral even as they’re insulted by citizens of all political persuasions. (“You’re not very good at dialogue,” one demonstrator says. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a useful idiot?” another asks.) One of the team members, Nicole, is new to the unit, and finds it harder than her previous posting — in major crimes and anti-gang investigations.

As Sweden exports this model to other countries, THE DIALOGUE POLICE offers an insider’s look at an alternative approach to policing protest.