“It Goes Both Ways”: How Mixed Police Encounters Influence Young Black Men's Decisions to Engage

Abstract

This study investigates the complex and often ambivalent perceptions of police held by young Black men in over- and under-policed neighborhoods in the United States. It focuses on how mixed prior encounters—both negative and positive—influence their expectations of future interactions, drawing on 21 in-depth interviews of 20–31-year-old men in Durham, North Carolina. Participants articulated nuanced attitudes that oscillated between alienation from officers’ violence and appreciation for officers’ service, reflecting a precarious sense of uncertainty about whether future encounters would be threatening or safe. Research reveals that mixed encounters can prompt both police avoidance as an adaptive response to navigating unpredictability and conditional willingness to engage police under specific circumstances they outline. Findings suggest cynicism represents a burden many wish to abandon but cannot without sustained positive change in policing practices.