What is ` police culture` in Australia and how does it relate to Australian police accountability?

Running Head : POLICE CULTURE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Police Culture and Police Accountability in Australia

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Abstract

The police as a law enforcement body have many powers granted to them to assist in the carrying out of their duties . They have the power to contravene the right of citizens in circumstances where it is legally permitted and they also have the duty to protect innocent people and to be accountable to the public . However , during the past twenty years Australian police services have been exposed to the

scrutiny of royal commissions , which have uncovered a disturbing pattern of culture especially against ethnic groups

The following report will discuss a summary of basic concepts of police culture and police accountability , and its relationship . It will also discuss some of the actual workings of these accountability measures in practice and the obstacles they face

Police Culture and Police Accountability in Ausralia

The police force is one of the most powerful divisions of the government . Ideally , these powers and duties need to be defined by law - both international and national , as well as policy and civil society debate . Often there is a gap between what the law states and what occurs in practice . It is when the police contradict what the constitution of their countries state , regarding human rights of all citizens that the police begin to lack legitimacy and the public begin to lose faith in the police and consequently the government . Good policing is a fundamental test of democracy ' and if the police resort to violent tactics to perform their duties the democratic principles of the country are undermined (Namiseb , 2002 . The police have the responsibility to ensure that human rights are upheld , not violated , since many sections of society rely on the police to protect their rights . The police are thus representative of a democratic and it is they who are in direct contact with the public . It is therefore imperative that the police are : professional , politically neutral (that is , free from political manipulation , human rights orientated , democratic and obey the laws of the country , community-orientated , and accountable (Namiseb 2002

In to define police culture , we must first look into the definition of culture . Brown (1995 ) describes culture as being a by-product of 'historical process . Furthermore he made a passing reference to police culture , and put it into the category of the tough guy ' macho culture . Brown has described police culture in terms of operational police reacting quickly to crime on the street , not as a bureaucratic organisation that has operational policing as an arm of its service (Shanahan , 2003

Police culture is described as something that exists from the perspective of the police officer who frequently deals with both criminals and the public as a part of his or her occupation . Some assumptions in the literature are that police culture has intrinsically negative connotations (Skolnick 1966 , Manning 1977 , Fitzgerald 1989 Reiner 1992 , Skolnick Fyfe 1993 ,Chan 1997 , Prenzler 1997 , Wood 1997 That negative part of police...