Police accountability is the expectation that law enforcement agencies and officers act responsibly and lawfully in upholding the law and controlling crime. It ensures equal treatment under the law and includes internal accountability for workplace discrimination. Democratic elections, public reviews, and citizen review processes help ensure accountability. Lack of accountability can lead to abuse of power and civil rights violations. It is necessary for public trust and safety.
Police accountability is a term used to describe the high expectation placed on law enforcement agencies and individual officers to act responsibly and lawfully in upholding the law and controlling crime. This expectation placed on law enforcement by public communities is further accompanied by the expectation that all citizens will be treated equally under the law. Systems that help ensure police accountability include democratic elections, public reviews, internal reviews, and citizen review processes.
In various parts of the world and particularly in democratic societies, law enforcement agencies are expected to serve and protect individual citizens. Police accountability ensures that these actions are carried out uniformly without discrimination or abuse. There are policies, procedures, laws and various review processes to ensure that things like arrests and trials are carried out with due process and that police investigations are carried out completely and objectively.
While police accountability largely relates to the interactions between law enforcement officials and the public, there is also an expectation of internal accountability. Sexual harassment, racial discrimination, bullying and other forms of workplace discrimination are considered intolerable within public law enforcement in many countries around the world. Failure to comply with country law, as well as individual department ethics, typically results in lawsuits, individual reprimands, temporary suspensions, or terminations.
Under democratic governments, when police accountability is lacking, not only are individual law enforcement officers punished, but democratically elected officials also face possible dismissal and a loss of public trust. Citizens in a community are less likely to vote for public officials who do not require the highest levels of accountability from law enforcement because abuse of power and negligence put entire communities at risk. In addition to a system for accepting individual complaints from the community, as well as internal review processes, independent watchdog groups often exist for the sole purpose of monitoring police accountability, particularly in areas where civil rights incidents have raised concerns about the responsibility.
Without high levels of police accountability, the likelihood of rogue officers, illegal search and seizure incidents, civil rights violations, and various other abuses of power is high. Historically, lawsuits against various law enforcement agencies resulting from allegations of police abuse have shaped the level of accountability in some jurisdictions. Police accountability and trust are necessary for public trust, as well as public safety.
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