Criminology

Democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. As such, it is the peoples will encoded in the rule of law that shall be the utmost consideration in running a democratic country. The rule of law must be upheld to maintain the ideals of a democracy relying upon the police to enforce it.

 The police force is the most evident manifestation of government authority charged with the task of maintaining public order and security. The democratic police shall be committed in pursuing excellence in law enforcement and upholding professional standards. It shall be the duty of the police force to enhance the quality of life by operating cooperatively with the community and in accordance with the countrys democratic values as embodied in the Constitution.

Fundamentally, the police force is tasked to uphold human rights through the observance of due process, freedom of speech and assembly, right to organize and petition the government for redress of grievances (Hinton and Newburn, 2008). The police essentially provide assistance and service to the public with the vision of creating a safer community.

Mainly, the police force must be accountable to law rather than to government. While pursuing their objectives, the police must operate in accordance with domestic and international law and respect human rights at all times. States have to ensure that domestic legislation does not contradict international laws and human rights standards.

In the Guidebook in Democratic Policing published by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), democratic policing requires that the police be and consider themselves to be accountable to the citizens, their representatives, the State and the law (Senior Police Adviser to OSCE Secretary General, 2008). Democratic policing mainly requires consent of the people, and in order to gain such public support, the police must be transparent in their operations with open communication lines with the public.

On matters of police organization, states are required to establish an environment which will positively promote effective and efficient implementation the rule of law as well as in upholding the accepted standards of human rights. Issues on organizational structure would include the chain of command, regulations on supervision, composition of the police, the rights of police personnel and the provision of adequate resources and training (Senior Police Adviser to OSCE Secretary General, 2008).

Police accountability means that police activity is open to observation by a variety of oversight institutions which may include the executive, the legislature, the judiciary as well as human rights commissions, civilian complaint review boards or independent ombudspersons, whereas, the media helps in disseminating information to the public on police activities. Ultimately, democratic police services can be distinguished by their submission to, and acceptance of, outside supervision (Senior Police Adviser to OSCE Secretary General, 2008).
       
While the police force and other units of a criminal justice sector should create unified operative relationships to guarantee lawful, effective and fair criminal proceedings, the police force, as a general rule cannot exercise judicial functions. The police force must strictly observe the autonomy, impartiality and objectivity of judges. The police and judicial cooperation extends to criminal matters only in so far as ensuring enhanced safety is concerned.

Oversight institutions are mostly concerned with public complaints against the police. These external oversight institutions take on different aspects of public complaints against police activities in terms of the misconduct that they are assigned to review and take action on. Sanctions may range from administrative to criminal. External oversight mechanisms help police leaders to investigate or punish misconduct impartially with the public eyeing upon their investigations. Nevertheless, this must be complemented by internal oversight mechanisms since there is greater access to information particularly on institutional flaws. In addition, police officers charged with serious misconduct will have greater confidence that investigations will be proper and fair with the help of internal oversight institutions, thus, gaining their cooperation more easily.
           
More transparent investigations would sow greater public trust and confidence. As a result, there will be an easy flow of cooperation between the police force and the civilians in a given community. When people trust the police authorities, they will be less apprehensive in protecting themselves as well as their neighbours knowing that their police will back them up along the process.