Accountable, responsive and independent: on the need for balance in police governance.

This paper considers the relevance of police independence in light of developments in police accountability mechanisms in the UK that encourage the police to be more locally responsive. It presents an argument concerning the need for balance in police governance between competing claims and interests. The paper notes the danger of exaggerated forms of accountability arising as a consequence of the inherent tensions within police governance, if the importance of a particular concern is overstated inappropriately at the expense of others. The current focus on being responsive at the expense of recognising the importance of police independence is presented as an example of such a danger. The paper acknowledges the extent to which traditional arguments in support of police independence have been criticised and accepts the need for the police to work interdependently with other bodies within the community. However, it is argued that this should not be interpreted to mean that police independence is redundant. Indeed, it is argued here that the more responsive the police are, the more important their independence becomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]