Racialisation in police stop and search practice – the Norwegian case

Abstract

This paper explores the reasons for the conflictual relationship between the police and ethnic minority men in stop and search encounters, which leads to the often heard allegation that ''All police are racists.'' It deals with stop and search practices in Oslo as described in interviews with ethnic minority informants and police officers, and as observed through fieldwork amongst the Oslo police rank and file. The approach is qualitative, and explores the perceptions of those stopped by the police, as well as the police's perception of stops and ethnic minority groups. The paper explores a few individual cases in depth to provide an alternative reading of stop and search that is lacking in the mainstay of quantitative studies. The first case analysed has a perspective which emphasises the interaction as it unfolds between the police and the ethnic minority man stopped, and explores the reasons for the resulting escalation. Elements of the stop which are analysed include the police's refusal to explain the stop; this in turn causes disrespect on both sides which results in invectives, resistance, bystander involvement, and the police officers' call for assistance. The other cases analysed in the paper are, to a higher degree, viewed in the light of police perceptions of and their contextual experiences regarding ethnic minorities. The complexity in the analysis corresponds to the complexity determining stop situations. Regular stop situations and their outcomes involve vague descriptions and the police's lack of discernment in consideration of suspects from different ethnic minority groups. Police stereotyping accounts for what ethnic minority men perceive as unjustified stop and search, with the findings suggesting that the Oslo police practice 'car profiling' as much as ethnic profiling. To this end it is suggested in the paper that the combination of having dark skin and driving a BMW exposes ethnic minority men to stop and search.Introducing the Research and the Norwegian Context 1 ''All police are racists.'' During the course of my research in Oslo I heard this often from ethnic minority males I interviewed. I intend to explore the basis for this allegation in order to throw some light on the conflictual relationship between the police and ethnic minority men so often observed (e.g.

Within ‘the Tin Bubble’: the police and ethnic minorities in Sweden

“…Sollund's findings, however, are far more ambiguous when it comes to the actual encounters between police and individuals belonging to ethnic minorities and their possible discriminatory nature. Her interviewees from minority backgrounds, confirming the picture from other studies on the subject as well, reported experiences of unfair treatment and even harassment by the police (see also Sollund 2006). At the same time, however, Sollund's own observations of actual police work on the street seemed to qualify this fairly unanimous testimony.…”

“…Holmberg 2000, Sarnecki 2006, Sollund 2006. Rather, the purpose of this article has been to consider whether the police's verbal racism, joking culture, and language use within the organisation might present themselves as a potential problem regardless of whether, and how, they might influence police officers' professional conduct towards ethnic minorities outside the organisation.…”

Refraining from reporting crimes: accounts from young male crime victims with an immigrant background

“…They were all subjected to crimes by people that they identified as 'Swedes'. Research has shown that young people with an immigrant background are especially likely to be targeted by the police (Fassin 2013;Neild 2009;Sollund 2006) and that researchers use discrimination when accounting for distrust that may lead to refraining from reporting crimes (Pettersson 2014). With this in mind, we expected that our interviewees would draw on such experiences and that we would hear stories about unfair police treatment because they had an immigrant background.…”

“…Interactions between the police and young people with an immigrant background are well researched internationally and are often discussed in the context of discrimination (Brunson 2007;Fassin 2013;Sollund 2006). The relationships of police and young people with an immigrant background living in a socially underprivileged area illustrate how young people perceive ethnic discrimination to be an issue in these interactions (Pettersson 2014).…”

Complaints as Opportunity for Change in Encounters between Youths and Police Officers

“…This means that an approach which involved endeavouring to avoid having any influence and to stay completely out of the way might, paradoxically, also result in worse data, i.e. in observations that provide less information about the situations of interest and the work of the police (Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 2011;Holmberg, 2003;Sollund, 2006).…”