70 likes | 87 Views
Enlighten…. Police governance and accountability Scottish International Policing Conference 10 November 2016 Alistair Henry Edinburgh Law School. www.law.ed.ac.uk. Opening orientations. ‘ G overnance’ and ‘accountability’
E N D
Enlighten… Police governance and accountability Scottish International Policing Conference 10 November 2016 Alistair Henry Edinburgh Law School www.law.ed.ac.uk
Opening orientations • ‘Governance’ and ‘accountability’ • Making organisations responsive, procedurally fair, effective and orientated around the values of society • No single or ‘right’ model for getting it right • Consistency in the principles of good governance: Jones et al (democracy and the police); Loader and Walker (policing); Woods (international organisations); Graham et al. (international development) • Different principles place checks and limits on others – they work together
Participation • Recipients of police services should be involved in what they do: • Fosters public sense of ownership over how society is policed • Opens up engagement with a breadth of public voices • Decreases distance between police and the policed • Gives recognition to citizens as bearers of rights with legitimate interests in policing; engagement and involvement aid transparency and legitimacy • Challenges in practice • Lack of inclination towards everyday engagement in politics and public life, events often a catalyst, the ‘usual suspects’ • What is ‘participation’? – input into local governance? Custody visitors? Special constabulary? Public meetings? • Limits of participation and being responsive to demands it creates?
Information • ‘Good information’ – central to the achievement of all other principles (noted in all accounts) • Transparency/accountability of policy and practice • Evaluation of efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery • Documentation of processes and procedures • Analysis of equity of service delivery • ‘Routine information’ not sufficient (e.g. data on police activities and calls to them is not the whole picture) • Drawing on wider/external sources of information important: partner agency information; survey data; national and neighbourhood statistics; academic research; third sector input; auditing and inspection
Responsiveness • Reflecting the ‘will of the people’, responding to their needs and problems (through performance)–recognises valued citizens, acts on their voice, makes police adaptable to change • Practical challenge: gauging the ‘will of the people’ • Participation helps • Calls for service insufficient (hard to reach groups) • Working with partners, elected officials, third sector etc. • Use of surveys (information) and, increasingly, social media • Principled limitations to being responsive • Risk of majoritarianism/discrimination – so responsiveness checked by recognition, rights, equity, fairness and reasoned deliberation around them
References Graham, J., Amos, B. and Plumptre, T. (2003), Principles of Good Governance in the 21st Century. Ontario: Institute on Governance. Jones, T., Newburn, T. and Smith, D.J. (1996), ‘Policing and the idea of democracy’, British Journal of Criminology, 36(2): 182-198. Loader, I. and Walker, N. (2007), Civilizing Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Woods, N. (1999), ‘Good governance in international organizations’, Global Governance, 5(1): 39-61.