The relationship between the police and African Americans has had a contentious history for decades. To explore this topic further, we interviewed 77 African Americans in the City of Durham, NC, about the declining relationship between their community and the police. We find that African Americans’ perceptions of the police are nuanced and complicated by personal experiences, vicarious experiences of relatives and friends, and news from social media and television regarding policing practices and treatment, including police harassment and/or brutality. We characterize these direct and vicarious experiences as the transmission of trauma. Even for the proportion of African Americans who had positive perceptions and interactions with the police, their views of the police seemed to be further complicated by broader concerns of discriminatory treatment. We proffer solutions to improve the relationship between the police and African Americans. The implications of our findings for future research are also discussed.

警察与非裔美国人之间的关系已有数十年的历史。为了进一步探讨这个话题，我们采访了北卡罗来纳州达勒姆市的77名非洲裔美国人，他们的社区与警察之间的关系正在下降。我们发现，由于个人经历，亲戚和朋友的替代经历以及社交媒体和电视台有关维持治安做法和待遇（包括警察骚扰和/或残酷行径）的新闻，非洲裔美国人对警察的理解变得微妙而复杂。我们将这些直接和替代的经历定性为创伤的传播。即使对于拥有积极认识并与警察互动的非裔美国人比例，由于对歧视性待遇的广泛关注，他们对警察的看法似乎也变得更加复杂。我们提供解决方案以改善警察与非裔美国人之间的关系。还讨论了我们的发现对未来研究的意义。