Strengths and Limitations of Internal and External Acountability Measures for Police

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Police Accountability
Police accountability is the structure of internal and external examinations and balances to ensure police perform their duties appropriately and are held answerable if they fail. The structure is meant to ratify police integrity, discourage misconduct and enhance public trust and confidence. Effective police accountability involves different internal and external players such as legislation, proper reporting procedures facilities, adequate supervision, a working culture that promotes evaluation and transparency, fair and effective complaint procedures, and adequate police training. Both internal and external measures have strengths and limitations while enhancing law enforcement.
Internal accountability measures
Effective policing involves finding and disciplining individuals with gross misconduct and ensuring accountability for their behavior. In addition, the general role of the police is to enforce the law and protect the general public. Thus, accountability is essential in their work before, during, and after an operation. To enhance accountability, individual police are required to use independent decision-making to pursue a particular task. Adequate supervision is paramount in internal accountability as misconduct will lead to an individual's investigations and the superiors in the chain of command. Internal measures are enhanced through the chain of power, which involves a proper reporting system and disciplinary structure. Conversely, external accountability mechanisms are enhanced through the state, executive, judiciary, and legislator, to the public, independent entities, and international systems.
Also, internal police accountability measures involve individuals or unit conduct, meaning every officer is responsible for their actions. Behavioral practices and integrity ensure every police follows practices, procedures, and policies as per the guidelines (USAID, 5). Additionally, an effective internal accountability mechanism ensures that police officers or agencies involved with alleged misconduct of criminal acts of corruption, crime, violation of human rights, and organized crimes are brought to book and made to correct their mistakes. In addition, internal accountability is enhanced by the efficiency of policing organizations and their observance of the rule of law. Police and law administering institutions are state-funded. Thus they are responsible for utilizing public funds effectively and account for how it has been spent. Importantly, they are mandated to provide their audit report to both the executive and public domains.
External accountability measures
External accountability measures involve all the institutions outside policing whose duty is to record, observe and report policies, tactics, and operations and evaluate performance. These institutions include the state, public and independent human rights organizations. The police are mandated to be accountable to the executive arm of government as it allocates resources and budget. Also, policing is accountable to the judiciary as the police are accountable to the law, judges, and the prosecution. In addition, police are accountable to the general public through their representatives in the ...