This article focuses on how the Dutch police respond to society’s multiculturalisation using two ideal types to structure the empirical material. From a police starting point – instead of civilians’ – ethnic profiling is placed in a historic and heuristic perspective. The way the Dutch police respond to the multiculturalisation of society has two realities, which in part have developed separately, in different worlds, but are also in each other’s way. The politicaladministrative response is mainly characterised by the police management model (with a focus on top-down control, structure, uniformity, and product). However, this frustrates day-to-day work of street-level police officers in multicultural disadvantaged areas which is characterised by the police work model (with a focus on bottom-up autonomy, culture, variety, and process).