CITIZEN OVERSIGHT IN POLICING

Citizen Oversight in Policing

Citizen Oversight in Policing

Introduction

Safety is one of the basic needs of an individual. It is obligatory for the government of any country to fulfill this need. To fulfill this basic need of their people government forms the department of police. The main objective of the police force is to protect the public from various harms. But, there are instances where police force itself created much harm for the public because of their rude and ruthless attitude. There are examples of events in which police force while using their power portrayed violence behavior. In order to monitor this violence behavior of the police there are different forums available for public. One of such avenues is citizen oversight. This paper revolves around the same concept. This paper discusses various aspects of citizen oversight.

Role of citizen oversight in policing

The forum of citizen oversight of police performs various roles. One of the main roles of this forum is to change the way of handling complaints of police and to highlight inappropriate conduct of police and take measures to prevent it. To take notice of such violent acts is the obligation of the department of police. There is a proper method with which this citizen oversight works. First of all a complaint is registered. Then, investigation is done about the complaint. Finally, on the basis of the investigation a suitable sanction is determined, if the officer has not been exonerated (Chasnoff, 2006).

Citizen oversight of police is a system in which feedback is gathered from the general public about the attitude and conduct of the police. After collecting the feedback, a fair process of investigation is done. In past few decades, citizen oversight has received enormous appreciation from the people. People have shown their satisfaction regarding the process of complaints after the implementation of citizen oversight of police (Miller, 2002).

Effectiveness of citizen oversight

People have shown their satisfaction regarding the process of complaints after the implementation of citizen oversight of police, but statistics does not indicate positive results related to satisfaction level with the outcomes of complaints. The number of shooting by police officers is showing a declining rate. This decline in the rate of shooting by the police officers is because of the implementation of the citizen oversight. With the aid, of the system of citizen oversight improvement in the process of training, procedures and policies of the police department has been improved. If the police department thinks that any suggestion that is given by the citizen should be taken into consideration. The police department considers the suggestions of the citizens and then they review their procedure and do amendments as required. For the continuous improvement, and tracking of performance of the police department officials of the police department should collaborate or coordinate with the members of the citizen oversight so that they can extend maximum benefits to the citizens and there should be an avenue with the aid of which any misconceptions about the police department can be improved (Walker, ...