Abstract

The relationships between the police and young people have been the focus of much police scholarship in the past decades. Research suggests that they are often characterized by low levels of trust and high levels of conflict. Why this is so and what influences the quality of police-youth relationships has so far mostly been studied through the perspectives of the young people. By means of fieldwork in a crime prevention unit in Oslo, Norway, this article contributes to the scarce literature on how the police approach these relations and what is taking place in the encounters. Using interactional data, the present article addresses four interactional styles that police officers adopt in their work with young people: relational, distant, emotional and paternalistic. While this study indicates that the relational style’s characteristics seem to be ideal for building and maintaining police-youth relations, it also shows how other styles have their own advantages and challenges. Finally, the article concludes that taking officers’ interactional styles into account may provide insights into the dynamics and quality of police-youth relations.