Police Accountacy

Describe the mechanisms by which the British Police are held to account and explain why these are important in maintaining their operational independence. This essay will describe the mechanisms by which the British Police are held to account, and will touch upon the paradox of police governance, the balance of unwanted coercion of police, financial stewardship and police legitimacy. This essay will also divulge into a discussion on the topic; is policing political? There will be an argument for and against, and the advantages and disadvantages to both sides will be conversed to achieve an accurate conclusion. In addition this essay will start by portraying the significance of Police Accountability.

Police Accountability in both England

Police failed to act upon this case immediately as a day after the murder a letter was found with names of the suspects on it. Police began surveillance on the homes four days later. "Significant weaknesses, omissions and lost opportunities". (News, 2014) The parents of Steven Lawrence complained and held a press conference to report that not enough was being done to find the murderers. “The Lawrence family calls on the Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Condon to resign. He apologises to them when he appears in October, admitting there had been failures.” (News, 2014) Police standards had dropped dramatically and later 70 recommendations were made and the Metropolitan Police were accused of institutional racism. The Steven Lawrence case is a prime example of questionable police accountability and deterioration of police standards. Instances like the Steven Lawrence case, increased the need of the Police & Crime Commissioners (PCC), for their role is to open their force to greater transparency, improve local accountability and increase local anatomy in policing, so the policing needs are met as effectively as possible, by bringing communities closer to the police. The efficiency and effectiveness of the police forces are held responsible by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). The Chief Constable however, is

“The first alternative finds its philosophical basis with the anarchists’ presumption” (Teacher) that given that coercion is converse to human freedom is naturally bad so it must be steer clear of, “even at the cost of the very existence of the political entity itself” (Teacher) On the other hand this alternative that focus’ solely on the abolition of coercion has the risk of being ineffective, neither on “philosophical premises” (Teacher) society requires coercion to remain controlled and provide protection for the communities. Therefore another alternative is to investigate the ways and means to normalise the use of coercion rather than abolish it altogether. The state must be democratic in order to normalise coercion, so that it may be used in the combined interest of the