The involvement of police and other security forces in systematic abuses of human rights in many developing and developed countries, has placed the control of police on a number of international agendas. An increasing number of countries are experimenting with different forms of police accountability and many are turning to civilian oversight bodies in an attempt to improve the process. This book examines recent experiences with, and prospects for, civilian oversight. It studies how this relatively new method of police accountability has been interpreted and implemented in a wide range of jurisdictions around the world. While looking at recent experiences in countries which have used the civilian oversight process for some years (the USA, the UK, Northern Ireland and Australia), it also examines recent attempts to establish civilian oversight bodies in South Africa, Israel, Central and South America, and Palestine. Some chapters explain how, in several of these countries, oversight of police conduct is a fundamental governance issue, and relates to concerns about democratization and rebuilding civil society. Other chapters deal with the complex issue of how to evaluate public complaints mechanisms and the political conditions which enable or frustrate the introduction and maintenance of effective civilian oversight.
