{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T17:10:38Z","timestamp":1790097038420,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789689600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789689600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Considerable attention has been devoted to how police officers categorize the individuals they are tasked with monitoring and controlling, particularly in marginalized, crime-affected urban areas with high proportions of ethnic minority residents. This article reverses the analytical gaze by exploring typifications of the police among young people in such areas. Drawing on interview data from three research projects conducted in Sweden and Norway, we examine how young people describe and dramatize police encounters from a street culture perspective. We identify three recurring typifications of police officers\u2014\u201cbad,\u201d \u201cgood,\u201d and \u201csilly\u201d\u2014and analyze how these types are narratively contextualized and used. Participants in these studies used subtle, evaluative distinctions, thereby performing nuanced cop-critical or cop-debunking portraits. The figure of the \u201csilly cop\u201d\u2014often conveyed through humor or sarcasm\u2014is particularly salient because it symbolically undermines police authority by portraying officers as lacking local knowledge, while simultaneously asserting the narrator\u2019s superior street cultural competence.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0306624x261489222","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T06:52:19Z","timestamp":1789800739000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Bad Cop, Good Cop, Silly Cop: Typifications of the Police in Nordic Street Culture"],"prefix":"10.1177","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6271-5659","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"David","family":"W\u00e4sterfors","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Lund University, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3185-125X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anna","family":"Hedlund","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"G\u00f6teborg University, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"S\u00e9bastien","family":"Tutenges","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aarhus University, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226098944.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_1","first-page":"2054","article-title":"Police reform and the dismantling of legal estrangement","volume":"126","author":"Bell M. C.","year":"2017","unstructured":"Bell M. C. (2017). Police reform and the dismantling of legal estrangement. The Yale Law Journal, 126, 2054\u20132150.","journal-title":"The Yale Law Journal"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_1","volume-title":"The social construction of reality. A treatise in the sociology of knowledge","author":"Berger P. L.","year":"1991","unstructured":"Berger P. L., Luckmann T. (1991). The social construction of reality. A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Penguin (Original work published 1967."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-2230.2007.00671.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1745-9133.2007.00423.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s40617-021-00578-4"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/10439463.2016.1194837"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1477370820916728"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226298238.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0891243211404889"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_12_1","volume-title":"Politiblikket","author":"Finstad L.","year":"2000","unstructured":"Finstad L. (2000). Politiblikket. Pax."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/9781787690059"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_14_1","unstructured":"Garfinkel H. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. Polity Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/bjc\/azae004"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.18261\/ISSN1894-8693-2014-01-03"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1748895818800744"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Holdaway S. (1988). Blue jokes: Humour in police work. In Powell C. Paton G. E. (Eds.) Humour in society: Resistance and control (pp. 106\u2013122). McMillan.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-349-19193-2_6"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_19_1","unstructured":"Holdaway S. (1993). The resignation of black and asian officers from the police service. A Report to the Home Office."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_20_1","volume-title":"Policing stereotypes: A qualitative study of police work in Denmark","author":"Holmberg L.","year":"2003","unstructured":"Holmberg L. (2003). Policing stereotypes: A qualitative study of police work in Denmark. Galda & Wilch."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_21_1","unstructured":"Labov W. Waletzky J. (1967). Narrative analysis. Oral versions of personal experience. In Helm J. (Ed.) Essays on the verbal and visual arts. Proceedings of the Annual Spring Meeting of the American Ethnological Society. University of Washington Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_22_1","volume-title":"Police-citizen relations across the world. Comparing Sources and Contexts of Trust and Legitimacy","author":"Oberwittler D.","year":"2018","unstructured":"Oberwittler D., Roch\u00e9 S. (2018). Police-citizen relations across the world. Comparing Sources and Contexts of Trust and Legitimacy. Routledge."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_23_1","unstructured":"Maruna S. (2001). Making good (Vol. 68). American Psychological Association."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_24_1","volume-title":"Why we harm","author":"Presser L.","year":"2013","unstructured":"Presser L. (2013). Why we harm. Rutgers University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_25_1","volume-title":"Analyze! Crafting your data in qualitative research","author":"Rennstam J.","year":"2018","unstructured":"Rennstam J., W\u00e4sterfors D. (2018). Analyze! Crafting your data in qualitative research. Studentlitteratur."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_26_1","volume-title":"Narrative Analysis for the Human Sciences","author":"Riessman C. K.","year":"2008","unstructured":"Riessman C. K. (2008). Narrative Analysis for the Human Sciences. Sage."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_27_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/10439463.2023.2216838"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_28_1","volume-title":"Lectures on conversation: Volumes I & II","author":"Sacks H.","year":"1998","unstructured":"Sacks H. (1998). Lectures on conversation: Volumes I & II. Blackwell (Original work published 1992)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_29_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/10511253.2010.516564"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_30_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0001699312466179"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_31_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/socpro\/spy019"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_32_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1362480617707947"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_33_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/13624806211056680"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_34_1","volume-title":"Slumpvis utvald. Ras-\/etnisk profilering i Sverige [Selected at random: Racial\/ethnic profiling in Sweden]. Stockholms universitet","author":"Schclarek Mulinari L.","year":"2017","unstructured":"Schclarek Mulinari L. (2017). Slumpvis utvald. Ras-\/etnisk profilering i Sverige [Selected at random: Racial\/ethnic profiling in Sweden]. Stockholms universitet. Kriminologiska institutionen."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_35_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1362480620914914"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_36_1","volume-title":"On phenomenology and social relations","author":"Schutz A.","year":"1992","unstructured":"Schutz A. (1992). On phenomenology and social relations. The University of Chicago Press (Original work published 1970)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_37_1","volume-title":"Youth-police relations in multi-ethnic cities: a study of police encounters and attitudes toward the police in Germany and France","author":"Schwarzenbach A.","year":"2020","unstructured":"Schwarzenbach A. (2020). Youth-police relations in multi-ethnic cities: a study of police encounters and attitudes toward the police in Germany and France. Duncker & Humblot."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_38_1","volume-title":"Harvey Sacks: Social Science and Conversation Analysis","author":"Silverman D.","year":"1998","unstructured":"Silverman D. (1998). Harvey Sacks: Social Science and Conversation Analysis. Oxford University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_39_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10612-018-9408-9"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_40_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/lasr.12201"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_41_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1540-5893.3703002"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_42_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tutenges S. (2019). Narrative ethnography under pressure: Researching storytelling on the street. In Fleetwood J. Presser L. Ugelvik T. Sandberg S. (Eds.) The emerald handbook of doing narrative criminology. Emerald Publishing Limited.","DOI":"10.1108\/978-1-78769-005-920191007"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_43_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/bjc\/azab117"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_44_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/bjc\/azae096"},{"issue":"4","key":"e_1_3_3_45_1","first-page":"288","article-title":"Procedural justice, legitimacy, and the effective rule of law.","volume":"30","author":"Tyler T. R.","year":"2003","unstructured":"Tyler T. R. (2003). Procedural justice, legitimacy, and the effective rule of law. Crime and Justice, 30(4), 288\u2013357.","journal-title":"Crime and Justice"},{"issue":"3","key":"e_1_3_3_46_1","first-page":"173","article-title":"Ethnic police humor as ethnic boundary-making in the Swedish police force","volume":"7","author":"Uhnoo S.","year":"2019","unstructured":"Uhnoo S. (2019). Ethnic police humor as ethnic boundary-making in the Swedish police force. Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology, 7(3), 173\u2013188. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.21428\/88de04a1.c4528529","journal-title":"Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_47_1","unstructured":"Van Maanen J. (2018). The asshole. In Kappeler V. E. Schaefer B. P. (Eds.) The police and society: Touchstone readings (pp. 307\u2013328)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_48_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/bjc\/39.2.287"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_49_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/13676261.2019.1592129"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_50_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/18335330.2022.2069474"}],"container-title":["International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0306624X261489222","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/0306624X261489222","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0306624X261489222","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T16:49:07Z","timestamp":1790095747000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0306624X261489222"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]]},"references-count":49,"alternative-id":["10.1177\/0306624X261489222"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0306624x261489222","relation":{},"ISSN":["0306-624X","1552-6933"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0306-624X","type":"print"},{"value":"1552-6933","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]]},"article-number":"0306624X261489222"}}