Police Harassment and Park Use by a Racially Marginalized Group: A Case Study of a Puerto Rican Community in Massachusetts

The purpose of this study was to revisit Gómez’s Ethnicity and Public Recreation Participation (EPRP) Model to include a policing variable (police harassment), thereby giving us the EPRP–Policing (EPRP-P) Model. In keeping with the call for examining power structures, this article uses critical race theory (CRT) to conduct a more in-depth analysis to better contextualize the relationship between police harassment, discrimination, and public park use by using a Puerto Rican community on the U.S. mainland as a case study. Our approach provides (a) quantitative analysis exploring demographic variables, (b) historical context for policing specific to Puerto Ricans, and (c) a qualitative context of respondents’ lived experiences. Recommendations were made regarding policing, youth programming, and community building.