Policing the Police International Perspectives on Police Oversight

1. Introduction Section I Police Accountability and the Construction of Police Oversight  2. Police Accountability and Oversight 3. Police Oversight Models Section II Serious Incident Response Teams and Police Oversight  4. Serious Incident Response Agency Mandates 5. Oversight of Serious Incidents Involving Police in Canada 6. Oversight of Serious Incidents Involving Police in the United Kingdom 7. Oversight of Serious Incidents Involving Police in Australia and New Zealand 8. Oversight of Serious Incidents Involving Police in the United States and Republic of Ireland Section III Complaints Agencies and Police Oversight  9. Police Complaints Agency Mandates 10. Oversight of Police Complaints in Canada 11. Oversight of Police Complaints in the United Kingdom 12. Oversight of Police Complaints in Australia and New Zealand 13. Oversight of Police Complaints in the United States and Republic of Ireland Section IV Going Forward with Police Oversight 14. Assessing Police Oversight 15. Best and Leading Practices of Police Oversight

Biography

Erick Laming is an Associate Professor of Criminology in the Department of Sociology at Trent University. His research focuses on police use of force, police oversight and accountability. His broader research interests include corrections, criminal justice policy and reform, comparative criminal justice, race and the criminal justice system, and dark tourism.

The publication of Erick Laming’s book Policing the Police: International Perspectives on Police Oversight could hardly be more timely as governments and civil society groups around the world wrestle with the challenge of police accountability. Policing is a task which contributes enormously to the safety and well-being of citizens and visitors in diverse locations, but it is also an activity which is highly vulnerable to a wide range of types of misconduct and betrayals of trust. ‘Policing the police’ is therefore an apt phrase for the essential task of managing complaints and disclosures about misconduct, and also monitoring and advising police on improvement strategies, which is now usually assigned to civilian oversight agencies. The book addresses the difficult issues involved in police oversight through in-depth scholarship and systematic reasoning. The work is to be commended for addressing what counts as best practice in this domain through an evidence-based approach to optimising oversight to ensure the best form of democratic policing.

Tim Prenzler, Professor of Criminology, School of Law & Society, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia