Police Accountability - Essay Example

POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS Police accountability is an important issue in light of the high profile instances of alleged police misconduct, abuse of authority and brutality. While instances of police overstepping their bounds and engaging in unlawful behavior is most frequently associated with the United States and instances such as the Rodney King beating which precipitated the Los Angeles riots of the 1990s, unlawful behavior by police officers is found throughout the world. Police misconduct can include a variety of instances of abuse of authority such as false arrests, corruption, intimidation and racial profiling amongst others. In Montréal, the June 2008 killing of an unarmed man, Fredy Villanueva, resulted in a riot in that citys north end and a continuing public trial which seeks to shed light into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the killing to by a police officer of an 18-year-old man. While the neighborhood of Montréal North descended into violence and chaos following the death, the Canadian public watched and waited for a judicial response to the claim of unlawful police behavior and potential criminal homicide. While the case continues and family members of Mr. Villanueva call for justice, this incident remains an important example of the necessity for public redress in the face of police officers contravening the law. Whether a police officer is engaging in unlawful or criminal behavior, the police must remain accountable for their actions in a modern democratic society. Abusive police behavior is conceived of as antithetical to the functioning of a modern, free society and the public has a natural right to seek arrests in instances of police abuse. Seeking to understand police accountability presently in place in Canada, the following essay will explore the mechanisms to keep police officers subject to the law which they are charged with upholding. What are the police accountability mechanisms presently in Canada and are these mechanisms effective? With the theme of exploring this question with an eye to the ramifications of police accountability and 21st century, the following now turns to an exploration of police accountability in the Canadian context (Walker, 2005). Legislative Oversight As stated above, police accountability is essential to the functioning of a modern and free democratic society. Accordingly, Canadian society is based upon the notion that power rests with the people in that elected officials are subservient to the electorate. This is the basis of modern liberal democratic governance and the tenets which frame the ideas of Canadians vis-à-vis their elected officials are also relevant with respect to the security of the state. Similarly, those who are entrusted with upholding the law are subject to the stipulations of the criminal justice system and are held accountable for their actions in the pursuit of fairness, justice and equality. In the Canadian context, police officers are accountable to the wider public through a variety of mechanisms which are in place to ensure that police officers remain subject to the law while they seek to uphold it. In Canada, an important mechanism for protecting against alleged police abuse is the legislative process and there are many laws in place which protect Canadian public against the abuse of authority by police officers. Accordingly, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is an important legislative mechanism which protects the Canadian public against the excesses by public authorities. Importantly, a variety of sections are devoted to the rights of Canadians under the law and Canadians can receive legislative address in the event that their rights are infringed upon by the judicial system or by a member of the police services. Section 7 of the charter protects the rights of individual in a court of law and guarantees due process; section 8 protects the public against unreasonable search and seizure by members of the police services; section 9 focuses upon arbitrary arrest and imprisonment and elaborates upon the rights of Canadians when in contact with a police officer whether that individuals under arrest or simply stopped or detained. Furthermore, section 10 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms focuses upon the rights of individual under arrest and the right to judicial review in the form of habeas corpus. From a legislative standpoint then, police in Canada are held accountable for their actions through the highest charter in the land, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As an important legislative document which seeks to preserve the rights and responsibilities of Canadians throughout the country, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms remains an important mechanism for police accountability and holds them subject to the laws of this country (Greene, 1989). Provincial Monitoring In Canada, jurisdiction over individual provincial police services falls under the scope of powers authorities to deal with police abuse problems. Accordingly, the province of Québec has the Sureté du Québec as a provincial police services and the province of Ontario has the OPP, known also as the Ontario Provincial Police. Due to the fact that police services fall under provincial jurisdiction, each province is responsible for its own particular accountability mechanisms and police redress is provided at the discretion of each provinces’ authorities. According, the province of British Colombia has an Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner which is responsible for acting as an ombudsman of sorts and responding to public complaints regarding the police services. Importantly, in this context original jurisdiction is province-centric in particular throughout the country. In the context of British Columbias Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, this body has the task of reviewing this complaints and electing whether or not to pursue them. This Commissioner also has the opportunity to call for an inquiry in the case that an event warrants it. While the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, and other similar provincial complaint offices do have oversight over the original police services, initial investigations are undertaken by individual city or regional police forces themselves. If the complaints are not satisfactorily answered, the provincial overseeing authority has the ability to step in and pursue the complaints more vigorously (Goldsmith & Lewis, 2000). National Monitoring The RCMP, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is this countrys national policing authority and the jurisdiction of the RCMP is naturally greater than that of the provincial policing authorities. While the RCMP is not subject to the scrutiny or oversight of offices such as BC’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has its own complaints commission created by Parliament to examine complaints made regarding police services. The CPC, Commission for Public Complaints, is animpartial body which exist to investigate complaints and provide accountability mechanism for the conduct of the members of the RCMP. By subjecting the national police force to civilian oversight, the CPC seeks to make the RCMP accountable for their actions. As an impartial organization, CPP has the authority to carry out investigations as well as report on their findings and make recommendations for redress. Importantly as well, the RCMP is accountable to Parliament for its actions and as in the case of the RCMP’s conduct in during the events of the APEC summit in Vancouver, public inquires are a recourse for the federal authorities when attempting to tackle instances of police abuse (Pue, 2000). Public Inquiry The death of Fredy Villanueva gained national attention and has resulted in a public inquiry into the conduct of the police officers who are implicated in the death of this 18-year-old. A public inquest is presently underway and civilian oversight of the criminal justice process was proceeded by an internal inquiry conducted by the Sureté du Québec following the death of this young man. Importantly, the public inquiry began after the Sureté du Québec found that none of the officers who were involved in the shooting of Mr. Fredy Villanueva were criminally culpable for his death. This public inquest represents a positive step towards providing civilian oversight over the police services and ensuring that they are accountable for their actions (Montgomery, 2009). Accordingly, it was the abusive and illegal behavior of many police, and the failure of governments to deal with the problems by introducing transparent and potentially more effective police accountability processes, which eventually led to the establishment of external, independent, civilian bodies to oversight complaints against police...Factors which determine the breadth and depth the gap are not confined to internal matters under the control the oversight body. Many are external and can be linked to the vested interest of police, the specialist relationship between police and governments and tensions which sometimes aroused between independent oversight bodies of governments (Goldsmith & Lewis, 2000, 4). As the case of Fredy Villanueva emphatically demonstrates, civilian oversight over the conduct of the police forces is fraught with controversy but it remains important in light of the important issues surrounding police accountability to the 21st century. The following will provide an overview of the issues studied and ask whether or not this accountability can be deemed effective and can be improved upon in the Canadian context. Concluding Remarks As has been demonstrated above, they are a variety of accountability mechanisms for the police services in Canada. Legislative control has made the police services subservient to the general public and laws ensure that the police are accountable before the courts. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms focuses upon the rights of the Canadian public with respect to their dealings with the judicial process as well as with members of the police services. Accountability is provided through a variety of legislative means and sections 7 through 10 of the Canadian Charter provides oversight over the police services and represent a series of accountability mechanisms to ensure that the police not only uphold the law but remain subservient to it. The mechanisms in place to ensure police accountability in Canada are disparate and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Accordingly, police services in this country are functions of the provinces and while the police remain subservient to the laws of Canadian society, the mechanisms which are in place to ensure the police follow Canadian law needs addressing. Provincial jurisdiction over the accountability mechanisms of the police services in this country may in fact hinder the pursuit of justice by providing different standards for police accountability throughout the country. While this may be a result of federalism and the federal nature of the Canadian system, it remains an important hindrance of nation-wide police accountability in this country. Although organizations such as the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner and the RCMP’s Commission for Public Complaints are impartial offices which seek to provide redress in the case of police complaints, more can be done to streamline the process of public complaints and public oversight of the police services in Canada. Unless members of police services are subject to the scrutiny of the wider public, through such mechanisms as a public inquiry as in the case of Fredy Villanueva in Québec, the powers of the police forces can go unquestioned. Accordingly, public inquires are the most pronounced examples of police accountability available in Canada today but they remain few and far between. Accordingly, public inquires represent civilian oversight of the Canadian police service process but are often a last resort. Importantly, more public inquires will ensure civilian oversight of the police services in this country and also ensure that all remain equal before the law. REFERENCES About Us. (2009). CPC. Last Accessed November 23, 2009 http://www.cpc-cpp.gc.ca/wwa/aus_notre-eng.aspx Goldsmith, A.J. & Lewis, C. (2000). Civilian Oversight of Policing. New York: Hart Publishing. Greene, I. (1989). The Charter of Rights. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company Montgomery, S. (October 26 2009). “Cop who shot Fredy Villanueva took month to file report”. Montreal Gazette. Last Accessed November 23, 2009 http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/shot+Fredy+Villanueva+took+month+file+report/2146015/story.html Pue, W.W. (2000). Pepper in Our Eyes: The APEC affair. Vancouver: UBC Press. Walker, S. (2005). The New World of Police Accountability. Sage.   Read More