Community Profiles: Initial Thoughts on Positioning the Police and the Policed

Abstract

A common occurrence in criminological discussions about Caribbean territories is generalizations suggesting a one-size-fits-all approach to understanding and presenting the realities of the police and the people. Many of these positions fall short in acknowledging the diversity of the different geographic spaces. Even less focus has been placed on acknowledging the differences in communities within the same jurisdiction. Within this chapter, a context is presented to assist with developing an understanding of the police and the people they police in a community designated a crime hotspot, and to provide a sense of the general attitude of officers to policing in these communities and the general attitude of the communities toward the police.