Police oversight mechanisms in the council of Europe member states (2017)

Abstract

Article 59 of the European Code of Police Ethics, Recommendation Rec (2001)10, affirms that: “The police shall be accountable to the state, the citizens and their representatives. They shall be subject to efficient external control.” In an open democratic society, the control of the State over the police must be complemented with a way for the police to be answerable to the public that is the citizens and their representatives, through an External Oversight Mechanism. This handbook, produced by the Criminal law Co-operation Unit of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, gives a snapshot of police oversight mechanisms across the forty-seven member States as of February 2017.