Insiders and Outsiders

• Date: 01 October 2021
• Author: Edwardo L. Portillos,Claudio G. Vera Sanchez
• DOI: 10.1177/2153368718802410
• Published date: 01 October 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

Insiders and Outsiders:

Latino Researchers

Navigating the Studying

of the Police

Claudio G. Vera Sanchez

1

and Edwardo L. Portillos

2

Abstract

A large body of literature utilizes a qualitative methodology to study the police in

communities of color. Within this literature are discussions of ethical and access

issues involved in researching the police, as well as how gender shapes access and

interactions with officers. However, there is a scarcity of literature exploring how the

race/ethnicity of the researcher influences research with law enforcement. This article

involves an exploration of how Latino academics studied what is often described as a

secretive population, using ride-alongs and semistructured interviews with police

officers in Chicago, IL, and Phoenix, AZ. Our goal was not to become insiders but

rather to explain the multiple ways in which being both insiders (e.g., males) and

outsiders (e.g., nonpolice) shaped our experiences as Latino researchers. Further, we

also describe the strategies we implemented to gain access and to ensure continued

access even when observing activities by officers that were ethically and racially

questionable. Moreover, we discuss how our Latino background introduced both

advantages and disadvantages in the field, and the techniques we devised that ulti-

mately helped us develop rapport with officers. As a result, our research approach

allowed us to gather data that reflected multiple perspectives of how officers viewed

the communities they policed.

Keywords

insider, outsider, minority neighborhoods, Latino/Hispanic Americans, race/ethnicity,

African/Black Americans, race and policing

1

Department of Justice Studies, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, USA

2

Department of Sociology, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, USA

Corresponding Author:

Claudio G. Vera Sanchez,Department of Justice Studies,San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192,USA.

Email: claudio.verasanchez@sjsu.edu

Race and Justice

ªThe Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/2153368718802410

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2021, Vol. 11(4) 384–\ 406

Article

During a ride-along in Phoenix, AZ, in a neighborhood where most residents are

Latina/o, a police officer and a researcher waited near an abandoned vehicle. It was

past midnight, and therefore a high number of officers were deployed due to a

crackdown on Friday and Saturday night cruising (i.e., driving around and hanging

out in the streets). The cruising never materialized and officers found themselves

with very little to do. One by one, officers joined a larger group of police huddled

near a train track. The researcher was introduced to the officers as the civilian

observer (CO). While the officers waited for the abandoned vehicle to be towed,

they discussed stories about their wives and moving into new homes. The con-

versation developed into telling of racist jokes, and just when the researcher

thought the officers may have forgotten about him, one officer turned to the

researcher and stated, “Sometimes we just joke around, and we don’t mean to be

offensive. You know, if somebody gets offended then we don ’t do it, and if I have

offended you I apologize.” The banter then switched to the sergeant of the squad,

who is a woman, who an officer referred to as the “dikester.” The officers then

proceeded to belittle the commander of the precinct, who is also a woman. They

referred to her as a “bit**,” and one officer clarified that “[the] bit** has fu**ed

other officers in the precinct.”

As a Latino researcher conducting ride-alongs with a police department, some

researchers might be offended by the misogynist rhetoric and the racial undertones.

Although it is safe to assume that officers are guarded in the presence of researchers,

questioning and critiquing officers’ actions in the field would possibly sway how

officers interact with each other and the community. Officers are often hypersensitive

about claims of race and racial profiling and express ambivalence while working in

low-income minority neighborhoods (Vera Sanchez & Rosenbaum, 2011). As a result,

research is needed about the police to understand how both community and police

interactions thwart the type of law enforcement that both reduces crime and creates

trusting relationships.

Although many important works have chronicled inner-city residents’ experiences

and perceptions of the police (see Gau & Brunson, 2010; Rios, 2011; Solis, Portillos,

& Brunson, 2009), the criminological literature has lagged in examining the police as

a unit of analysis. Those who have studied the police (Barlow & Barlow, 2002;

Huggins & Glebbeek, 2003; Moskos, 2008) describe the overwhelming challenges

involved in studying police organizations and police officers. Furthermore, whether

the researcher is an insider or an outsider, adds a layer of complexity to studies on the

police. Our task is not to study a marginalized population or compare how different

ethnic/racial groups view the police, but instead to do the opposite—to study a pop-

ulation of power (i.e., the police) and to describe the obstacles and challenges expe-

rienced as insiders (e.g., males) and outsiders (e.g., Latino). The objective of this

article is to contribute to a significant gap in the literature by (a) understanding how

racial and gender dynamics influence our insider and outsider status during the course

of studying the police and (b) describing police work in communities of color from

officers’ vantage point.

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