‘Guardians’ or ‘Bullies'?: Perceptions of the Police amongst adolescent black, white and Asian boys

The attitudes of 54 adolescent boys towards the police was explored using the Q technique. This revealed two distinctly different images of the police: either impartial guardians of order or bullies in uniform who exercises power for malign motives. When divided into three racial groups—Black, White and Asian—the main difference to emerge was that whereas both White and Asian groups contained those who viewed the police in either way, the Black sample almost exclusively regarded police as ‘bullies’. The implications of these findings for the police order‐maintenance role is discussed.