I watch my fair share of Scandinavian police procedurals--The Bridge, Fortitude, The Killing, among others--and I'm continuously amazed by how pleasant and polite the cops are.
They are almost apologetic when they arrest someone. They question suspects like they're in for a job interview. There's never any pressure, brutality, lying, or threats. Most of the time, they calmly show the suspect pictures of the crime scene. They expect him or her to crack because of a guilty conscience.
Think about that--the suspect will crack not because of pressure or the threat of jail time, but because they feel bad about what they've done.
In Fortitude, the jail cell doesn't have bars, but a large pane of glass, which I assume is not easily breakable. You can look at the prisoner inside in much the same way as you look through a window display at Bloomingdale's. It makes you realize that bars, which at this point are symbolically dehumanizing, aren't necessary.
At the end of Season One of The Bridge, one cop threatens to shoot another because he is about to break the law. And they're partners!
Do I think this depiction of Nordic cops is truthful? No, I think it's probably as much of a fantasy as the depictions of police on American TV. But note the critical difference--their ideal is of the mild-mannered, law-abiding officer; ours is of the renegade, rough-and-dirty, plays-by-his-own-rules, violent, out-of-control cop. That's a significant difference.