Community policing in Danish “ghetto” areas: Trust and distrust between the police and ethnic minority youth

Abstract

Recent years have seen trends within police to use different forms of “community policing” strategies that aim to foster closer relationships and trust with citizens, as well as an orientation toward “procedural justice” in law enforcement practices. Based on 25 interviews with police officers in two different police precincts in Denmark, this article explores the policing of ethnic minority youth in so-called “ghetto” areas from the perspectives of police officers. In doing this, we describe the specific challenges and strategies in implementing such policing methods in neighborhoods where some residents display low trust or even hostility toward the police. The article sheds light on the emotional, organizational, and practical challenges involved in doing community policing in marginalized neighborhoods and the way in which this shapes how community policing is being organized in practice.

My Criminal Friend: Maneuvering Friendships and Abstaining from Crime in High-Risk Areas in Denmark

“…Over-policing and indirectly criminalizing young people in marginalized areas, might result in a situation where young men from ethnic minority backgrounds are even more likely to become targets for the police gaze and have to endure even more police control because they live and have friends in marginalized neighborhoods (Kammersgaard et al 2021). Moreover, this might intensify their general lack of trust in the system and the police as well as their feelings of being disproportionately targeted, and in some cases discriminated against, by law enforcement authorities (Haller et al, 2020a; Wästerfors D and Alm VB (2020).…”

“…Such a ‘police gaze’ and pro-active police work is based on typologies where certain citizens appear more suspicious to the police than others, because of characteristics such as age, ethnic origin, and clothing (Holmberg, 2003). Hence, groups of young immigrants often attract the attention of the police (Ansel-Henry and Jespersen, 2003; Holmberg, 2003: 59; Kammersgaard et al, 2021) and consequently, they risk becoming ‘criminal by association’ if they hang out with criminal or gang-related friends, engage in ‘street-culture’ or live in high-risk areas. Studies have shown that ethnic minority youth are more likely, than those with a Danish background, to be arrested and charged, without this leading to a conviction (Holmberg and Kyvsgaard, 2003; Nielsen et al, 2019).…”

“Criminalization Causes the Stigma”: Perspectives From People Who Use Drugs

“…Finally, the over-policing of people who use drugs has been shown to drive feelings of distrust between communities of people who use drugs and the police, reinforcing structural inequalities and reducing the perception of people who use drugs that police assistance is appropriately commissioned for their community as much as it is for the wider public (Kammersgaard et al, 2021; Scher, 2020; Selfridge et al, 2020). Criminal drug laws also structurally produce an unregulated and illegal drug market where it is impossible to control drug toxicity and where marginalized people who use drugs are often pushed to procure illegal substances from dangerous and often unpredictable environments (Jacques & Allen, 2015; Werb et al, 2011).…”

Community policing experience, public trust in the police, citizens’ psychological safety and community well-being in Ghana

“…For example, when community members feel psychologically safe based on their perception of fairness, they become compliant (Van Damme et al , 2015) and tend to engage more with the police in pursuit of initiatives that deliver holistic community well-being rather than self-protection initiatives (Edmondson and Lei, 2014). Procedural justice is critical and salient in the citizen–police trust-building process (Aston et al , 2021); hence, community policing strategies should be developed with undertones of procedural justice to ensure effective community policing and safer communities (Kammersgaard et al , 2021).…”