NCJ Number
104777
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 27 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1987) Pages: 87-96
Date Published
1987
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Consultative committees, lay visitors to police stations, interagency crime prevention efforts, and the application of the British Government's 'financial management initiative' (FMI) to policing are all part of the effort to develop local infrastructures for police accountability to the community.
Abstract
Consultative committees composed of public and police representatives are mandated in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and strongly supported by the Home Office. These committees discuss how police policy and procedures can best meet community needs. Schemes of lay visitors to police stations have no statutory authority, but have been used in various localities to increase public contact with the police and permit limited opportunity for public representatives to monitor station procedures, particularly those pertaining to detention. The FMI policy of the Home Office emphasizes a systematic approach for police agencies to determine their objectives and the resources required to meet those objectives. Police requests for resources must pass strict effectiveness and efficiency tests and must be approved by local police authorities (composed of lay public and police officials). Interagency liaison and planning groups are also used to guide local police policy. All of the aforementioned factors have an influence on police accountability to the community. They are not yet bound together in a local infrastructure of accountability, however.