“I’ve Never Been Straight Up Robbed Like That”: Resident Perceptions and Experiences of Inner-City Police Raids

Marta-Marika Urbanik,Carolyn Greene

doi:10.21428/88de04a1.6f2a66fb

Marta-Marika Urbanik, Carolyn Greene

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.21428/88de04a1.6f2a66fb

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Abstract

Empirical research has consistently demonstrated that residents of disadvantaged and racialized inner-city neighborhoods across North America are subjected to disproportionate and omnipresent policing. Consequently, relationships between law enforcement officials and marginalized community members are often strained. Whilst a robust body of literature has examined how citizens perceive “every day” policing practices such as “carding,” stop and search, etc., it remains unclear how citizens perceive more invasive policing encounters—such as police raids. Drawing upon 35 interviews with residents of Toronto’s inner-city, this paper explores how community members experience, make sense of, and talk about police raids. Our data uncover widespread perceptions of nefariously motivated police misconduct, raise questions about how residents anticipate and expect police to treat them, and highlight nuances in how these experiences shape police legitimacy views. We argue that how residents perceive police to behave during raids matters, as this can damage perceptions of police legitimacy for some residents, while merely reaffirming existing views for others.

Highlights

Concerns over police use of “carding,” racial profiling, brutality, and lethal force against racialized minorities have increasingly dominated public discourse across North America in recent years, largely attributable to the Black Lives Matter movement (Lebron 2017; Rickford 2015)
Our findings revealed that it was not the predictably unpleasant elements nor the legal outcomes of police raids that influenced our participants’ views and experiences of police, but perceptions that police acted without procedural justice: including warrantless searches, unnecessary violence and destruction of property, and illegal seizures/“robbery”
This is consistent with procedural justice literature which demonstrates that it is the quality of treatment that citizens receive by police and not the outcomes related to these interactions that shape perceptions (Tyler & Huo 2002; Sprott & Greene 2010)

Summary

Introduction

Concerns over police use of “carding,” racial profiling, brutality, and lethal force against racialized minorities have increasingly dominated public discourse across North America in recent years, largely attributable to the Black Lives Matter movement (Lebron 2017; Rickford 2015). Much of what we understand about citizens’ views of police is rooted within procedural justice literature This scholarship argues that citizens’ views are largely shaped by their perceptions of the quality of treatment they receive from police. When people feel they are treated fairly and respectfully —or with procedural justice—they are more likely to indicate higher levels of trust and confidence in law enforcement. When people feel they are treated unfairly and disrespectfully—without procedural justice—they report lower levels of trust and confidence in the police (Tyler et al 2014; Tyler 2003; Madon et al 2017; Mazerolle et al 2013; Murphy 2013; Murphy et al 2017). It is perhaps unsurprising that relationships between police and racialized communities are often strained (Tyler 2003; Tyler & Huo 2002; Madon et al 2016)

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