FEATURES OF DEMOCRATIC POLICING
Every democratic policing must indeed be carried out under democratic principles. The rights of
the individuals are best safeguarded under democratic governments whose police has well
embraced and practice the form of policing based on sound democratic tenets. The following
features must thereby exist if any policing could be tagged democratic.
1. The police system is accountable to the law, and not a law unto itself. Democratic police
institutions demonstrate a strong respect for the law, including constitutional and human
rights law. The police, like all government employees, must act within the law of the
country and within international laws and standards, include human rights obligations set
out in international law. Police officials who break the law must face the consequences,
both internally through the disciplinary systems of police organizations, and externally, in
the criminal justice system.
2. It is also accountable to democratic government structures. The police are a government
agency and as such must account to the government. In a democratic system, the police
account to elected representatives of the people – for example, parliaments, legislatures
or local councils – for their performance and use of resources. Democratic police
institutions also account ‘horizontally’ to other agencies of government, such as to
Treasury or Finance Departments for their financial performance and sometimes to
Public Service Commissions or Departments of Administration for their adherence.
3. Gives top operational priority to protecting the safety and rights of individuals and
private groups. The police must primarily serve the people. The police should be
responsive to the needs of individual members of the community – especially to people
who are vulnerable, marginalized or disadvantaged.
4. Protects human rights, especially those which are required for political activity characteristic
of a democracy. Democratic policing implies policing that is supportive and respectful of
human rights, and prioritizes the protection of life and dignity of the individual. This requires
the police to make a special effort to protect the freedoms that are characteristic of a
democracy – freedom of speech, freedom of association, assembly and movement, freedom
from arbitrary arrest, detention and exile, and impartiality in the administration of law. A
democratic approach can place the police in a difficult position, if, for example, they are
required to enforce repressive laws, and simultaneously protect human rights. These situations
call for the skilful exercise of professional police discretion, which should always lean
towards the (CHRI, 2007).
In a nutshell, the police have the responsibility of protecting the rights of the populace. Some of
the rights may only be withheld when there is a breach or violation of the laws which exist to
protect the same offenders and the rest of society. Sometimes however police operate not in
tandem with existing professional codes and outside the stipulations of the laws of the country.
Also police can best protect the rights of the citizens under democratic regimes and where the
police themselves are subject to the laws of the state and uphold the democratic tenets of the rule
of law and respect for the rights of the citizens.
This research goes deeper into the various assertions by the various writers as well as presents
first hand field information which attests to these assertions or else disproves some of them.
REFERENCES.
BOOKS
1. Abrahams, R. (1987), Sungsungu: “Village Vigilante Groups in Tanzania”, African
Affairs.
2. Atuguba, R. (2006), Structure of the Ghana Police Service and Its Effect on
Accountability, Ghana.
3. Crawshaw R. (1999), Police and Human Rights: A Manual for Teachers, Resource
Persons and Participants in Human Rights Programmes, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
4. Gordan K. et al, Police and Human Rights Manual for Police Training.
5. Nickel, J. (1992), Making Sense of Human Rights: Philosophical Reflections on the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, (Berkeley; University of California Press).
6. The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.
JOURNALS
7. Agbewode, (2006), Juapong Police score another human rights abuse, The Chronicle, 23
May 2006.
8. Akwei, (2006,) Is the duty of the police worthy of note?, The Chronicle, 20 July 2006.
9. Aning, E.K. (2006), An overview of the Ghana Police Service, April 2006, Journal of
Security Sector
10. Frimpong, G. (2006), Police gun down carpenter, The Chronicle, May 5 2006
11. Kewura, S.Y, (2006), Cops torture man to coma, The Chronicle, January 19 2006
12. Paragraph 1.13.2 of the National Reconciliation Commission Report.
13. Report of the Archer Commission, (1997).
14. Sudanese police block protest at human rights commission Reuters&–&Sun, Dec 30, 2012
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Rosalind Russell)
15. Sydney, A.R. (2007), IGP Interdicts 2 cops, Daily Graphic, 24 February 2007
16. Tamakloe, P. (2006), Carry on Ghana Police: “Stuff Missing Again”, The Enquirer, 27-
30 July 2006
17. Yeboah, k. (2006). Commercialization of Police Service, Daily Graphic, 15th Feb, 2006.
INTERNET SOURCES
18. BBC News Online, (2001), Relatives besiege Ghana hospitals,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/ 1323356.stm as on 23 February 20
19. BRIEF FACTS ABOUT THE GHANA POLICE SERVICE,
http://www.ghanapolice.info/history.htm 20/01/13
20. Community Policing, http://www.ghanapolice.info/community_police_unit.htm
21. Fagan A. (2005), Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, “A Peer Reviewed Paper
http://www.iep.utm.edu/hum-rts/
22. Ghana Police Service, (2007), Police Administration: Administration of the Service,
www.ghanapolice.org/ police_admin/broad_formation.htm, Wednesday, 28th Feb, 2007,
12:15 pm.
