The African communities' experiences of policing in the Netherlands

Arewa, C

Abstract

This thesis represents a qualitative study of the lived experiences and perceptions of policing from the perspectives of Dutch-Africans resident in the Netherlands, as well as from the perspective of serving Dutch police officers. It seeks to question how these experiences resonate or depart from known studies on the negative experiences of BME populations and policing in the United Kingdom and the United States. Whilst the emphasis is upon perceptions from Dutch-African residents,attitudes, views and experiences of officers are also included. The theoretical stance adopted by this study is an intersectional lens as conceived by the Critical Race Theory (CRT) perspective to provide “whole person” accounts of experiences of discrimination, and how the intersectional racializing experiences affect Dutch-Africans during encounters with the police. The study also critically evaluates the relevance of police occupational culture to Dutch contexts. This research represents the first study to date of Dutch-African experiences of policing in the Netherlands, incorporating interviews and focused observations of Dutch-Africans and police officers on patrol. It is also one of the few empirical criminological studies to use an intersectional perspective in examining these experiences. It further illuminates the process of categorisation in the Netherlands and how the definition of being Dutch is associated with whiteness within the context of the Dutch police organisation and Dutch society, and how this shapes the Dutch-African encounters with the Dutch police. The study also finds an overwhelming evidence of Dutch-Africans’ acknowledgment of their marginalised status as a “suspect community” based on their experiences of police interaction.

Citation

Arewa, C. The African communities' experiences of policing in the Netherlands. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 8, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 8, 2019