There’s A Certain Group of Cops that have their Own Vendetta’

Resident Perceptions of Notorious Police Officers and ‘Cop Clockin’ in the Inner-City

Bibliographic Data

ID8401045
AuthorsMarta-Marika Urbanik, Marta‐marika Urbanik (0000-0002-5669-7789, University of Alberta, corresponding author), Carolyn Greene (0000-0003-4073-4263, Athabasca University), Jake Wojnarowicz (University of Alberta)
Year2021
Volume61
Issue3
Pages733-753
Publication date2021-04-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe British Journal of Criminology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-0955 • E-ISSN: 1464-3529
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/bjc/azaa082
OpenAlexW3117223419
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited62

Many inner-city neighbourhoods across North America are disproportionately subject to heightened and aggressive policing strategies. Consequently, many inner-city residents have developed strategies to limit their encounters with police. Research examining police–community relationships has traditionally examined how residents perceive and respond to ‘the police’. However, this homogenizes and over-simplifies nuanced processes. Based upon 48 interviews with Toronto inner-city residents, we demonstrate how narratives about allegedly ‘notorious’ officers reveal that residents differentiate between individual officers and modify their behaviours accordingly. This process of officer differentiation—‘cop clockin’—results in strategic responses to specific officers as residents attempt to hinder the potential harms of interactions with ‘notorious cops’. Furthermore, officer complacency raises questions about police legitimacy and strengthening police–community relationships

Criminology · Inner city · Legitimacy · Narrative · Officer · Perception · Police department · Political science · Public relations · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Law · Policing Practices and Perceptions · Psychology · Social Psychology

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