Post 9/11, Muslims in the West have experienced heightened surveillance from the police and the broader public. This suspicion has been associated with Muslims’ lack of trust and confidence in the police. However, there has been no research to date which has explored how expectations of treatment shape these views. This study is the first to introduce the theoretical framework of anticipatory justice, or non-normative treatment expectations, to policing scholarship. Deploying an exploratory qualitative design, this study examines how one stigmatised group – Middle Eastern Muslims in Sydney, Australia – anticipate treatment by the police and the effect of anticipatory (in)justice on trust. The findings suggest that the extent to which people anticipate police discrimination or unfair treatment is associated with their conferral of trust in the police, for both those who have previously had positive and negative experiences with police officers. The study further highlights the duality of individuals’ trust and under which conditions people trust the police to treat them or others fairly.