Police authorities: citizenship and accountability

This thesis explores the role and effectiveness of police authorities in connecting policing and the citizen and in increasing the citizen's involvement in the delivery of their policing service. The thesis examines: police authorities in the context of citizenship and in relation to accountability; and whether the operational function of law enforcement, the original charge of Keeping the Kings Peace and policing by consent - can work homogenously within a system characterised by both active and passive citizenry. Individual chapters discuss whether police authorities have sufficient power, whether the home secretary and chief constable have too much power, and the propensity of police authorities to demand answers and call the police service to account. As history shows, it is possible to have a police service carrying out policing functions in the absence of a police authority performing a scrutiny function; but it would be impossible to have a police authority without a police service. Therefore, the thesis argues that the added value, the relevance and the effectiveness of police authorities needs to be unambiguous