Around two-thirds of participants had experiences of stop and search, and half had experiences as primary victims of crime. Interviews conveyed low levels of trust and confidence in the police, and even participants who had no direct experiences held negative views of the police. The data demonstrated how intergenerational and cross-generational narratives produce frameworks to interpret policing experiences, creating schemas for understanding the police treat Black communities even where exposure to policing has not occurred, and how these may be more influential than actual experiences.