Citizens view on police conduct Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Citizens view on police conduct - Essay Example An effective civilian oversight ensures that the police work force utilise their power in respect to the law, and the constitutional rights and freedoms of the citizens. Walker explains that there is a review board responsible for the oversight units in law enforcement agencies. The review board consists of professionals who monitor the law enforcement operations (Walker, 2005). The areas that the oversight agencies focus on include the use of force, personnel issues, and lawsuits against the police departments, policies used in police departments. The special counsel and review commission acts as mediators between the public and the police departments. Citizen oversight agencies process public complains. The internal affairs unit investigates the complaints. The counsel reviews the internal affairs investigations if they find the public complaints are justified the counsel makes recommendations that are incorporated into the policies of law enforcement agencies. According to walker and Andreaz, the recommendations are essential in the transformation of policies in police units. Citizen oversight encourages law enforcement agencies to foster a culture of openness and responsiveness. The special counsel and review commission responsible for citizen oversight publish reports that allows member of the public and media access to information regarding public complaints and the effort made by law enforcement agencies to improve the situation (Walker, 2005). Walker (2005) explains that citizen oversight have time and again failed to achieve their goals. This failure stems from factors such as poor planning, lack of political and financial support. According to walker, the resistance from police departments is a key obstacle in the successful implementation of the citizen oversight goals. Walker argues that citizen oversight agencies desire to have a working relationship with law enforcement agencies and at the same time, they value their independence and objectivity. The success of citizen oversight agencies requires finding solutions for financial constraints and resistance from police departments. It is important for police administrators to come up with ways to foster a working relationship with citizen oversight agencies. This move will facilitate the establishment of a valuable accountability system. Law enforcement units that support the role of citizen oversight agencies benefit by gaining the public’s confidence (Walker, 2005). The problems that citizen oversight agencies encounter while implementing their goals include financial constraints, unrealistic expectation set by oversight agencies, the poor planning makes it hard for oversight agencies to accomplish their goals. A lack of cooperation between oversight agencies and police departments contributes to an increased deterioration of the public’s trust in their police force. Citizen oversight agencies adopt an impartial work attitude where they focus in gathering of neu tral facts. It is due to these reasons that agency investigators fail to embrace the outrage and perspective of citizen complaints (Livingston, 2004). Walker describes that citizen oversight agencies focus on delivering the expectations of the members of the public and at the same time, assist police departments fight the issue of misconduct. However, citizen oversight agencies are encouraged to avoid offering a judgement on the allegations. On the other hand, there are police