TY - JOUR
T1 - “Most officers are more or less color-blind”
T2 - Police officers’ reflections on the role of race and ethnicity in policing
AU - Kammersgaard, Tobias
AU - Søgaard, Thomas Friis
AU - Kolind, Torsten
AU - Hunt, Geoffrey
PY - 2024/10
Y1 - 2024/10
N2 - Several studies worldwide have demonstrated that ethnic minorities are more likely to be stopped, questioned and searched by the police. In this paper, we explore how police officers themselves discuss and make sense of ethnic disparities in police stops. Based on interviews with 25 police officers in two police precincts in Denmark the paper illustrates how officers actively reflect on the (un)importance of ethnicity for policing. Findings point to how the officers both rejected that ethnicity directly mattered for who they chose to stop, as well as how they offered alternative and indirect explanations for why ethnic minorities were stopped more often.
AB - Several studies worldwide have demonstrated that ethnic minorities are more likely to be stopped, questioned and searched by the police. In this paper, we explore how police officers themselves discuss and make sense of ethnic disparities in police stops. Based on interviews with 25 police officers in two police precincts in Denmark the paper illustrates how officers actively reflect on the (un)importance of ethnicity for policing. Findings point to how the officers both rejected that ethnicity directly mattered for who they chose to stop, as well as how they offered alternative and indirect explanations for why ethnic minorities were stopped more often.
KW - police
KW - policing
KW - qualitative interviews
KW - race and policing
KW - racial profiling < race and policing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138246485&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/21533687221127445
DO - 10.1177/21533687221127445
M3 - Journal article
VL - 14
SP - 465
EP - 489
JO - Race and Justice
JF - Race and Justice
IS - 4
ER -