In an era oriented toward community policing, police face the complex dilemma of respecting differences while enforcing laws in a non-discriminatory fashion. In light of the recent impetus to criminalize domestic violence, community policing may be particularly problematic in multicultural societies where police, representing the dominant community ideology, characterize subordinated or minority communities as inherently primitive or violent. Drawing on the literature on policing violence against minority women, including their work on Arab women in Israel, the authors argue that gendered racism and racialized sexism shape victims’ and police responses to domestic violence resulting in the culturalization and under-policing of violence against women in minority communities.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/publications/specialissue/6AdelmanErez.pdf