Accountability of Police - Essay Example

To What extent are the Police accountable at both national and local level and assess whether this needs to be improved. Introduction Accountabilityof police has been a point of debate whenever police initiate a drastic action against common men. Police force was created to maintain law and order in the country and to ensure that they are supporting lawful existence of people in the country. Police is the government department that guarantees through the use of force if needed, the peaceful and lawful existence of the citizens of the country. Since this department can use force to get its way through, this gets misused at many an occasion resulting in a large scale anti police sentiments. The responsibility of the police force is clearly spelt out in the law (HMSO, nd) when the force was created. This law has been undergoing rapid changes with the change in the way people worked and the level of civil and human rights that was envisaged for the people. With more relaxation in public laws and increase in the human rights consciousness, it is important for the police force also to modernize (Leigh, A., Mundy, G. and Tuffin, R. 1999). They need to change their perception in line with the needs of the civil society. Police Accountability Police Accountability has increased over a period of time along with the increase in civil rights movements and human rights activism. Police was and continues to be subservient to Judiciary in most of the countries. However, there are specific on site decisions that the police could take not withstanding any directions from the court. For instance, during a riot or arson, police can take a balanced decision to ensure that the peace and the property of law abiding citizens of the country are not damaged and the public property is not ransacked. However, the onus of proving that such an action was needed in order to maintain peace becomes the responsibility of the police. Such similar acts of the police mark their accountability to the public and are answerable in a court of law. It is therefore, important for the police to realise this specific feature set in law. Whether it is shooting down an 'unknown' terrorist on the tube who turns out to be an innocent migrant or when a black woman is arrested after a long drawn midnight struggle when she is repeatedly hit by three or four strong policemen, the accountability of the police come into focus. Without reference to any race or sex, police are accountable for their actions like any other person in the country. Brixton Riots and Lord Scarman Report Brixton Riots left a long scar on the police and the administration in general. As the Scarman report pointed out, the 'complex, social and economic factors' created the violent protest that burnt the area. This was more a fight against the police, mostly, rather than the other agencies of the government. Scarman report further went ahead to say that there was a clear racial discrimination. There was a loss of confidence in the police force and in their methods of policing. There was a strong dislike among the black population for discriminatory tendencies in the police force. The report suggests that if there had been more of ethnic minorities in the police force such discriminatory tendencies would not have arisen. The accountability of the police in such an incident was pretty limited. Internal and External Discipline The police force is expected to be disciplined both internally and externally. In cases like that of the Brixton Riots where a continuous and ongoing lack of confidence in Police comes out in the form of riots, Police could not build the friendship that is required. The racial orientation of the police in Britain has long been under question. Therefore, it is only right that the police discipline themselves internally and then ensure that there is an external discipline as well. The racial prejudices that the police carry with them are inbuilt and have long significance. This cannot be offset within a matter of years or even centuries. And to set right this prejudice immediately, the police force should be appropriately planned in such a way that there is substantial racial mix and they would approach the problem from their point of view. This was suggested by the Scarman Report, but that was not implemented completely. This has led to a continuing loss of confidence for the police force with the blacks in UK. A series of measures were taken to instil confidence among the public and the commitment of the police force in UK. In line with this, internal controls for discipline were strengthened (PPAF, nd). This included such things as performance monitoring, organisational accountability, financial accountability and accountability through consultation. The legal accountability of the Services was to be redressed in a court of law as an external disciplining mechanism. There were other methods of external disciplining that was also put in place to ensure that the force works transparently and in line with the legal provisions. Figure 1: Accountability of the UK Police Force From the external sources, there is always the media and a host of NGOs who work on these factors (Mawby R C 1999). Legally sponsored bodies for oversight and redress of grievance exist. The PSU, HMIC, IPCC are some of them which work towards meeting such requirements. Despite all these methods of internal and external control, there are specific faults which can only be ratified through using legal means in a court of law. Stephen Lawrence Case and MacPherson Report One of the major turning points in the history of British police is the Stephen Lawrence murder. The investigation coupled with the murder itself was of racial tilt that many in the police force admitted the lack of discipline in the force. There were many evidences for racism existing in this case and in a number of other cases, which MacPherson highlighted in his report (MacPherson 1999). This situation has arisen only because of the lack of accountability among the police. There were blacks who were killed in custody and there were blacks were stopped for questioning. The general tendency of the police was to 'assume' that the blacks did more illegal activities in contrast to whites. This assumption led to a series of violations of human rights. All this point to the lack of accountability among the police force resulting in large scale violence in case of Brixton and an innocent death in the case of Stephen Lawrence. Though the Scarman Report and the MacPherson Report both fixed the responsibilities of the police and their role in escalating and creating the violence, there was no specific action that was initiated. This indicates, even if the accountability of the police is fixed, it would not be sufficient enough to take the police to task. This tendency makes the police to commit more such activities leading to a larger disenchantment with the police force among the public. When an act that is not in line with the law of the land is done by the police, it should be much more stringently addressed and stronger punishments executed for such violations (Jones, T. 2003). Under no condition, people should view the police force as elite and above the law people. It should not be the case where people think that police can ill treat people and get away with it. This should not particularly happen with minority or ethnic origin people. This incident once again proved that legal recourse is the only other option for those cases where none of the other methods work. National Level Legislative Accountability of the Police Force The legal bindings for the police are provided for by the following legal tenets. 1. Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994) 2. Security Services Act of 1996. In addition to these, the police Act of 1964, The Police and the Magistrates' Courts Act, the Police Act 1996 and the Police Reform Act 2002 all make up the legislative background for the police force. The tripartite system of police accountability comprising of the Home Office, the local police authority and the chief constable of the force is enforced across the country. The Home Secretary is accountable to the Parliament, while the local police are accountable to the local public represented by the local councillors, magistrates and business representatives (NRPP, nd). Police are also responsible to the Home Office or the executive in general and to Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary. Figure 2: Accountability structure in UK Police Service PACE84 - Police Complaints The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 provides for the methodologies that the police should follow for all occurrences of stop and search; entry, search and seizure; arrest, detention and questioning of the suspects. The 'fruits of the poisoned tree' approach is applicable when the procedure is not followed by the police. This essentially stems from the fact that any evidence not gathered using the right procedures might not be right. Any breach of such procedure or methodology is admissible in both civil and criminal proceedings against the police. PACE84 covers the entire Code of Practice that has to be followed by the police. Failure to do so might result in failure to get convictions in the court. Local Level Police complaints Authority (PCA) was created in 1984 to take note of any complaints that come up. This was primarily established because of the complaints that were coming up against the police and the way they were handling complaints against them (Loveday, B. and Reid, A. 2003). Though this measure was to restore confidence in the police force among the public, PCA never really achieved this. PCA was replaced with an organisation that had more teeth. Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) replaced PCA in 2004 and was created in line with the Police Reforms Act 2002 (IPCC nd). This came out of the MacPherson report formed after the Stephen Lawrence murder case. IPCC is independent and is formed by people who have never served in the police force or any government department. Its decisions cannot be overruled by any body other than a court of law. While the reforms in the police have not really built large scale confidence in the police, the move has happened. However, there has been continuing issue that the local authorities and the community do not involve itself with the police. This is being seen as the major reason for the isolation of the police in such ethnic and minority related issues. More involvement by the community has been seen as a way to control the police and make them more accountable. Comparative Study of US and Australian Policing In US and Australia, a nationwide policing policy is in place which also has a similar complex accountability structure. With the police primarily responsible to the Home Ministry and the Home secretary on the executive side, in turn he is responsible to the parliament or the senate. While there are a number of public accountability of the police evolved over a period of time in both US and Australia, it can be seen that these are local community centred. There is a strong local responsibility of the police and the election of the sheriff by the local public contributes to the accountability of the police. Conclusion There have been marked improvements in the police accountability with an increase in both internal and external controls. The accountability structure of the police has lots of checks and balances that exist in the country. More such controls are also anticipated and there will be efforts to improve upon this performance. However, the confidence that the public have on the police continue to thither. The lack of police understanding and the racial orientation that is displayed by them at times are all out come of the long standing opinions in the minds of the police force. It is not possible to offset this thought process in a century or even more. This tendency of supremacy and the tendency to think that a specific group is responsible for all the crimes in the society are all thoughts stemming out of this. Unless this is set right it would never be possible for the police force to come out of this and become more trustable to the minority. As to the majority itself, they too do not have confidence in the police for their neutral standing and in operating efficiently. The Policing by its definition is a supervisory mechanism which may not really be appreciated by any common person. Unless the public are also educated on the role of the police and the police respond with proactive gestures, there may not be any trust built between them. And only then there will be clearer accountability and transparent operation of the police will become a possibility. References 1. Dr Raw Mawby & Dr Alan Wright (Jan 2005) Police Accountability in the United Kingdom. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. 2. IPCC available at: http://www.ipcc.gov.uk 3. Jones, T. (2003) .The governance and accountability of policing. in Newburn, T. (ed.) The Handbook of Policing, pp. 603-627, Cullompton: Willan Publishing. 4. Leigh, A., Mundy, G. and Tuffin, R. (1999) Best Value Policing: Making Preparations, Policing and Reducing Crime Unit Police Research Series Paper 116, London: Home Office. 5. Loveday, B. and Reid, A. (2003) Going Local: Who should run Britain.s police London: Policy Exchange. 6. Macpherson of Cluny, Sir William (1999) The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, cm 4262-1, London: 7. HMSO. http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm42/4262/4262.htm 8. Mawby, R.C. (1999) .Visibility, Transparency and Police Media Relations. in Policing and Society, vol. 9, pp. 263-286 9. National Reassurance Policing Programme (NRPP) https://www.reassurancepolicing.co.uk/default.asp 10. The Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF) http://www.policereform.gov.uk/psu/ppaf.html Read More