Contested Distances, Valorized Affinities<subtitle>Local Concerns and Aspirations about Policing on the Urban Margins of Stockholm</subtitle>

Drawing on notions of distance versus proximity, and by engaging with critical discussions about reassurance and community policing, this article examines how the policeʼs local presence or absence is reflected in concerns and aspirations about policing in two disadvantaged suburbs of Stockholm. It presents findings from interviews with seventeen adults active in local neighborhood associations. The results show that respondentsʼ concerns are commonly related to police practices and modes of being that create distances in a negative sense, such as officer discontinuity and disengagement, vehicle patrols which fail to involve personal interaction, and subjection of the neighborhood youth to intimidating checks and controls. The respondentsʼ aspirations, on the other hand, pertain to police availability in and familiarity with the neighborhood, visible foot patrols, modesty, and courtesy in verbal exchanges with members of the community. These concerns and aspirations are interwoven with a shared tendency to de-emphasize policing with respect to broader issues of neighborhood disadvantage. In brief, these results point to the destigmatizing potentials of a policing that foregrounds locally attentive, community-affirming practices in the context of neighborhood marginalization, while cautioning us against turning the police into a pervasive force.