In Bordertown, decades of racialised policing have contributed to long-lasting fear, mistrust, and hostility towards the police that has increased over time. This is embodied by the evolution of the ‘Black folk devil’ from the mid-twentieth century to today, from the Black mugger to the Black gangster, to contemporary moral panics about drugs, county lines, and gangs. Cultural narratives are created and used within Black communities to interpret policing experiences, drawn from direct and vicarious perceptions, expectations, and experiences of policing. Emerging from longstanding experiences of racialised policing, these narratives may be more impactful than actual experiences in embedding and transmitting negative perceptions of the police across generations. Narratives both reflect and limit social progress, revealing a bleak picture of intergenerational racialisation and criminalisation despite efforts at reform over the years.