This contribution deals with the police interaction that comes about through contact with the
population in public places. We propose to focus this contribution on the interaction methods that
make it possible to explore the characteristics of the patrol and district police officers. First we will
report on the interactional practices ‘specific’ to one or another of these professional groups. We
will then highlight the ones which, on the contrary, seem similar.
Supported by the detailed description of encounters between police officers and the population and
an analysis inspired by the sociology of Goffman (1973, 1974, 1991), our results highlight the concrete proceedings of the interactions, a dimension rarely investigated in police sociology. And although our results intend to expand knowledge on the practices of police in contact with the public, this interactional ‘entryway’ allows us to analyse autonomy as a police resource that is susceptible to
supporting recognition of the population’s legitimate engagement during interactions with the police.