‘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

Abstract

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.