posted on 2011-03-11, 09:43authored byFloyd Millen
This thesis explores the role and effectiveness of police authorities in
connecting policing and the citizen and in increasing the citizen's involvement
in the delivery of their policing service. The thesis examines: police authorities
in the context of citizenship and in relation to accountability; and whether the
operational function of law enforcement, the original charge of Keeping the
Kings Peace and policing by consent - can work homogenously within a
system characterised by both active and passive citizenry.
Individual chapters discuss whether police authorities have sufficient
power, whether the home secretary and chief constable have too much
power, and the propensity of police authorities to demand answers and call
the police service to account.
As history shows, it is possible to have a police service carrying out
policing functions in the absence of a police authority performing a scrutiny
function; but it would be impossible to have a police authority without a police
service. Therefore, the thesis argues that the added value, the relevance and
the effectiveness of police authorities needs to be unambiguous