Local police forces throughout the British Empire were staffed with indigenous populations and commanded by British officers. They enforced the law and upheld colonial authority, often being “the colonial state’s first line of contact with the majority of the populace” (Anderson and Killingray, 1991:2). This practice was dictated by the need to inexpensively maintain an Empire, and was underpinned by the philosophy of indirect colonial rule, which dominated British colonial thinking between the two world wars. The Palestine Police Force -- a relatively understudied historical topic -- was no different in this regard from other colonial police forces. Moreover, it became the main mechanism of the Empire's control after the withdrawal of British troops in 1921 and remained so until the Arab Revolt in 1936. As such, perceptions of the police can reveal the local society's attitudes towards the mandatory government. This paper explores how police and policemen were perceived by the Palestinian Arab press, as a prism to understand local attitudes regarding the mechanisms of colonial control between 1921 and 1936. Was the police seen as an alien force serving the state, as in many colonial settings, or did it enjoy support from subjects assisted by it? Were Arab policemen seen as respectable members of their communities or marginalised as collaborators? In the early 1920s, there were few references to the police, a clear indication that the force was not high on the Arabic press’ agenda. Only during the latter part of the decade did newspapers cover in earnest the police and express editorial views towards its functioning, especially since the 1929 Wailing Wall riots. This paper demonstrates the Arab population's ambivalence towards the government, its rules and regulations, as well as the press' gradual change in the way they viewed the police. Until the mid-1920s the police was seen as a neutral mechanism of the British government whose task was to maintain law and order, however later reports stressed the police "betrayal" due to its disregard for government law. In the 1930s it was already considered as another arena in which the communal conflict played out. The police was seen as a mechanism intended to protect and promote the Jewish national home. Newspapers increasingly reported about discrimination of Arab policemen within the force and discrimination of the Arab population by the police, particularly by Jewish servicemen.