The Arguments For and Against Citizen Oversight
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The Arguments For and Against Citizen Oversight
Citizen oversight was important because there was growing bad relations between the community and the police; thus, riots, racial tensions, and public disorder ensued, especially in the 1960s, thus policy brutality on even innocent citizenry( White, 2007). Therefore, the activity would ensure rogue policemen’s actions on the general public are abated or controlled. Further, the oversight was necessary since there were some mishaps on the police conduct that were mainly caused by lack of proper training and supervision as identified by the president’s crime commission of 1960 ( White, 2007)
The Kerner commission of 1968, also referred to as the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also recommended the citizenry to oversight the police (White, 2007). However, the police departments and unions argued citizen oversight had no legal basis. In the 1980s, President Nixon’s resignation and the Watergate Scandal triggered people’s views there was a need for accountability in the police service and that could be attained through Citizen oversight( White, 2007). Other scandals that flamed American citizens’ desire to oversee the police force were Iran-Contra and the spying done by the FBI (White, 2007).
Despite the contemporary growth of Citizen Oversight, there are people for the concept, while others remain adamant about the idea (White, 2007). Some people argue that citizen oversight is an important venture since there are rampant cases of serious police misconduct, which the internal police organs have failed to address persistently (White, 2007). In this case, the idea is that the complaint procedures within the police that would be followed to solve the problem are either ineffective or redundant, thus failing to address the complaints from the citizenry. Consequently, citizen oversight would be the most suitable option.
Another reason the proponents of citizen oversight agency support the concept is that the agency will act independently. Further, it will perform its mandate without any duress and thoroughly investigate and give a fair report regarding alleged misconduct by a police officer than if the investigation and reporting of the same would have been done by the police agencies (Fran & Geoffrey, 2013). Further, the Citizen Oversight agencies will admit genuine cases or those that carry probable cause that would be used to punish the rogue police (Fran & Geoffrey, 2013).
In most cases, if a police officer commits a serious crime that touches on the infringement of the citizenry rights, the investigating police officers or agencies tend to cover up the offender. The aim is to protect the unit’s image or the investigators, maybe friends or colleagues of the offender, thus discharging justice to the offended becomes a daunting task (Fran & Geoffrey, 2013). Therefore, those supporting the oversight agencies believe it will ensure guilty police officers get disciplined accordingly. Also, the oversight agencies’ admission of more cases and punishing more offenders will better deter future police misconduct than the usual internal police disciplinary procedures (DeAngelis & Buchner, 2014).
Historically, cases involving police officers and the investigation done by the same agencies related to the discipline do not seem fair to the public, thus losing trust in similar investigative reports(DeAngelis & Buchner, 2014). However, when citizen oversight agencies review such complaints, public members would perceive the actions to be independent then make the complainants feel satisfied with the verdict. The public’s attitude towards the police force shall also change positively. Finally, the venture shall instill professionalism in police and bring forth quality policing.
People against citizen oversight argue several times it has failed to execute its mandate and worsened the situation (DeAngelis & Buchner, 2014). Further, the opponents claim the police misconduct is less injurious as people allege. Nonetheless, they assert the police can conduct a thorough investigation and a fair one (DeAngelis & Buchner, 2014). Regarding the sustainability of complaints, the opponents claim the internal units of police register a high number of sustained complaints compared to the citizen oversight agencies (DeAngelis & Buchner, 2014).
Those, who are against the formation and operations of citizens, argue the police departments impose tougher disciplinary actions on errant members of the police than the agencies (DeAngelis & Buchner, 2014). That not enough; they claim the citizen oversight agencies hardly deter police misconduct compared to the internal police disciplinary procedures. The opponents of citizen oversight also claim the internal disciplinary police structure handle complaints satisfactorily. The individuals also assert the citizenry has confidence in the police and gets satisfaction from complaints than they find in citizen oversight agencies (White, 2007). Finally, the people who are against citizen oversight argue the external agencies interfere with policing by preventing effective combating of crime by police officers and deflation of the chief executive of the police management authority (White, 2007).
In summary, people supporting and against the citizen oversight may both be wrong and right in some of their arguments. For instance, history shows police misconduct is a perennial problem, and failure of the police agencies to investigate themselves is a common phenomenon. Therefore, the support for citizen oversight is justifiable. Equally, history demonstrates the successes of citizen oversight to be meager. Consequently, those who do not support the ideology may be right.
References
DeAngelis, R., & Buchner. (, 2014). Civilian oversight of law enforcement; A review of strengths and weaknesses of various models. National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, 8-10
Fran, V. F., Jeff, R., & Geoffrey, P. A. (2013). Citizen oversight in the United States and Canada; an overview. https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2013.767089
White, M.D. (2007). Current issues and controversies in policing. Pearson: Upper Saddle River, N.J.ISBN: 0-205-47005-X