Summary
Contents
Subject index
This book explores the sensitive issue of police accountability to civilian oversight bodies to control police excesses. At the center of the discourse lies the tacit acknowledgement that the enormous power and authority invested in the police does lead to corruption and excesses unless adequate checks and balances are installed. The book analyzes these checks and balances and how these can be made more effective. It puts forth a cross-national study of internal and external mechanisms for enforcing police accountability, and critically appraises the effectiveness of civilian oversight bodies. It also touches upon the working of National Human Rights Commission of India.
While supporting the role of civil oversight bodies in enforcing police accountability, the author also discusses scenarios of police resistance which have often paralyzed the functioning of oversight bodies in Australia, Canada, and the United States. As a solution, he recommends that the primary object of an oversight body should not be only to inquire into complaints against police and recommend action against the defaulting officers, but also to highlight systemic inadequacies and recommend changes in policies and procedures.
This book will be extremely valuable to professionals in police academies, public administration and state security commissions, and human rights activists.
Police Reforms in India and Neighboring Countries
Police Reforms in India and Neighboring Countries
Democracy is successfully functioning in India since her independence in 1947. The preamble of the Indian constitution proclaims the resolve of the people of India to constitute a “sovereign, secular, socialist and democratic republic”. But ironically, the Police Act of 1861 or Acts modeled after it continue to govern policing in India. The Act of 1861, passed after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, governs the organization structure, philosophy and functional modes of the Indian police even 60 years after independence, despite far-reaching changes in social, political, economic and cultural spheres over a century and half. “The major crime codes, laws of evidence and the entire judicial system are all frozen in time ...
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