1. Police governance and accountability
Enlighten…
Police governance and accountability
Scottish International Policing Conference
10 November 2016
Alistair Henry
Edinburgh Law School

2. 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

3. Principles of democratic policing and ‘good governance’
Jones et al. 1996
Loader and Walker 2007
Woods 1999
Graham et al
Equity
Resources
Participation
Legitimacy and voice
Delivery of service
Recognition
Accountability
Direction
Responsiveness
Rights
Fairness (procedure/outcomes)
Performance
Distribution of power
Reasons
Information
Fairness
Redress

4. 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?

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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):
Loader, I. and Walker, N. (2007), Civilizing Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Woods, N. (1999), ‘Good governance in international organizations’, Global Governance, 5(1):