When we think about racialised policing of Black British communities, the past is inextricable from the present. As Phillips argues, race is a “conditioning logic” (2020, p. 3): the systemic nature of colonial ideas is deeply embedded in societal process and frame lived experience (Parmar et al., 2022). In Bordertown and beyond, the racialised social control that animated the British imperial project continues to cast its long shadow today. Participants’ reflections shone light on how racialised policing acts as both a form of criminalisation and as a mechanism of boundary enforcement, reaffirming who is seen as legitimately “British.” Through the continued racialisation and criminalisation of non-white and immigrant communities, state apparatus conveys messages about belonging, identity, and status in Britain.