“Most Officers are More or Less Colorblind”: Police Officers' Reflections on the Role of Race and Ethnicity in Policing

• Published date: 01 October 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221127445
• Author: Tobias Kammersgaard,Thomas Friis Søgaard,Torsten Kolind,Geoffrey Hunt
• Date: 01 October 2024
• Subject Matter: Articles

“Most Off‌icers are More

or Less Colorblind”: Police

Off‌icers’Ref‌lections on the

Role of Race and Ethnicity

in Policing

Tobias Kammersgaard ,

Thomas Friis Søgaard, Torsten Kolind,

and Geoffrey Hunt

Abstract

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 mat-

tered for who they chose to stop, as well as how they offered alternative and indirect

explanations for why ethnic minorities were stopped more often.

Keywords

police, policing, race and policing, racial prof‌iling < race and policing, qualitative

interviews

Introduction

In a recent documentary, the Danish Chief Constable of the police was asked whether

the Danish police practiced “ethnic prof‌iling”(Danish Broadcasting Corporation,

2017). He answered that the Danish police does not register the ethnicity of suspects

and offenders, because ethnicity is not an issue for the Danish police. This is contrary

Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University, Copenhagen NV, Denmark

Corresponding Author:

Tobias Kammersgaard, Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University, Tuborgvej 164, 2400

Copenhagen NV, Denmark.

Email: tok.crf@psy.au.dk

Article

Race and Justice

2024, Vol. 14(4) 465-489

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/21533687221127445

journals.sagepub.com/home/raj

to some other countries, for instance the United Kingdom, where police off‌icers are

required to make a record of every police stop, which should include the reason for

the stop, the outcome, as well as the self-def‌ined ethnicity of the person stopped

(Delsol & Shiner, 2006). This procedure and recording of the ethnicity of the

person stopped was introduced precisely to monitor police stop and search activities

in order to prevent discrimination and ethnic prof‌iling.

Research on racial and ethni c prof‌iling has its origins in the U S, and the so-called

“Lamberth Reports”is widely consi dered to be the beginning of this f‌ield (Lambe rth,

1998). These reports conf‌irmed th at black Americans were disproportionately s topped

relative to their general presen ce in traff‌ic (Glover et al., 2010) . Since then several

studies, using a range of research met hods, have conf‌irmed the pictur e of racial and

ethnic minorities being more likely to be stopped, question ed and searched by the

police, both in the US (Meeha n & Ponder, 2002), the UK (Bow ling & Phillips,

2002, 2007) and in continental E urope (Miller et al., 2008). In Den mark, a study

by Holmberg and Kyvsgaard (2003 ) found that persons with a “foreign background”

were 45% more likely, and descendan ts of immigrants 75% more likely, than t hose

with a Danish background to be stoppe d and arrested by the police, witho ut this

arrest leading to a conviction . This study was replicated , and the f‌igures generally

conf‌irmed in the aforementioned documentary broadcasted byDanish national televi-

sion (Danish Broadcasting C orporation, 2017; see also The D anish Institute for

Human Rights, 2022).

This article will explore how police off‌icers working in areas with a high percentage of

residents with ethnic minority backgrounds actively ref‌lect on the issue of ethnic prof‌iling,

and ethnicity more broadly, in their policing activities. The article is structured in the fol-

lowing way. First, we discuss previous research that has investigated how police off‌icers

ref‌lect on issues of race and ethnicity. Second, we introduce the key terms of race, ethnicity

and discrimination and discuss how these have been theorized in studies of crime and

policing. Third, a section on methods and data is provided. Fourth, we present empirical

data on how off‌icers reject the possibility that ethnicity matters in deciding on who they

stop; how they offer alternative explanations for why ethnic minorities are stopped

more often; and how off‌icers react to accusations of ethnic prof‌iling. Finally, based on

a limited number of interviews with teachers and recruiters at the Danish Police

Academy and a police off‌icer at the management level in one of the police forces that

we studied, we tentatively explore how these issues are addressed at the organizational

level. Finally, the f‌indings of this exploratory study are discussed and connected to the

wider literature. We conclude that a greater appreciation of discriminatory processes as

something that can go beyond overt and blatant racism, would aid the police in better con-

sidering and addressing issues related to ethnicity and race.

Previous Research on Police Off‌icers’Ref‌lections on Race and

Ethnicity

While most research on racial and ethnic prof‌iling has been based on quantitative

methods, in order to establish if and to what extent ethnic minorities are targeted

466 Race and Justice 14(4)