Stop-and-frisk and other punitive policing practices disproportionately affect marginalized communities of color. In response to calls for reform, police departments have implemented community policing programs aimed at improving relations with racialized communities. This study examines how a police unit used courtesy and respect in its engagement with a criminalized population, gang-associated Latinos, while relying on the stop-and-frisk practice. Our study reveals contextual and situational contradictions between modern police departments’ attempts to establish legitimacy and the hegemonic practice of investigatory stops. Drawing on observations and interviews conducted during a ride-along study, we find that stop-and-frisk, simultaneously used with reform practices like courtesy policing, yield a paradoxical policing approach, “the legitimacy policing continuum.” Officers regularly articulate a goal of respectfully interacting with courtesy to build community and trust—what we term “the mano suave”—while practicing a dominant logic of crime prevention through punitive measures—what we term “the mano dura.” We argue that community and courtesy policing are drawn on strategically in interaction and ultimately intertwined with and constrained by the racial bias at the heart of punitive policing practices like stop-and-frisk.

中文翻译：

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Mano Suave–Mano Dura：合法性警务和拉丁裔拦截搜身

拦截搜身和其他惩罚性警务做法不成比例地影响边缘化的有色人种社区。为响应改革呼吁，警察部门实施了旨在改善与种族化社区关系的社区警务计划。本研究调查了警察部门如何在与犯罪人群、与帮派相关的拉丁裔人打交道时使用礼貌和尊重，同时依靠拦截搜身的做法。我们的研究揭示了现代警察部门建立合法性的尝试与调查停止的霸权实践之间的背景和情境矛盾。根据在骑乘研究中进行的观察和采访，我们发现拦截搜身与礼节性警务等改革实践同时使用，产生了一种矛盾的警务方法，“合法性警务连续统一体。” 警官经常阐明一个目标，即以尊重的态度与礼貌互动以建立社区和信任——我们称之为“绅士风度”——同时通过惩罚措施实践预防犯罪的主导逻辑——我们称之为“硬脑膜”。我们认为，社区和礼节性警务在互动中被战略性地利用，并最终与像拦截搜身这样的惩罚性警务实践的核心种族偏见交织在一起并受到其约束。