ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the findings on young people's relations with the police. It presents the findings on young people's attitudes towards the police and their contact with them. The chapter explores these contradictions and analyses their consequences. In the pilot study in Craigmillar, the authors found that young people had considerable adversary contact with the police, far higher than comparable levels of contact for adults living in the same area. These findings prompted the authors to ask whether such figures were peculiar to the policing of Craigmillar, or whether such levels of contact would be replicated in different areas of the city. In very marked contrast, as few as 33% of those whose only experience was adversary contact thought that the police treated young people fairly. One of the most striking and important findings to come out of the pilot study in Craigmillar was the deep ambivalence displayed by young people towards the police.
