ABSTRACT
A central component of the principle of policing by consent, which has underpinned official discourse on policing in Britain since the establishment of the Met in 1832, is that the police are accountable to the public that they serve. This chapter will explore the various ways in which the principle of accountability has been translated into practice in recent decades. Accountability is discussed in terms of the formal legal mechanisms that govern the police, and – more broadly – as it has developed in informal ways as consultation with local communities has become increasingly important in recent years. Although it is stressed that consultation is qualitatively different from accountability, as relations of power and control are fundamentally changed, it is shown that the two can be closely related. It is argued that debates surrounding accountability, which do not inherently relate to police relations with minority ethnic communities, actually have been greatly influenced by many of the issues that are explored in other chapters in this book. Arguments about the way in which complaints against the police are investigated and managed will be examined. Tension between statutory forms of control, such as those exercised by local police authorities, and the fiscal accountability of the police to central government are explored towards the end of the chapter. In the concluding section it is argued that there has been a process of bifurcation whereby policing has become increasingly devolved to local levels, simultaneously the central Home Office seems to be exercising greater than ever control.
