Reconceptualising the police complaints process as a site of contested legitimacy claims

Abstract

General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above.

Trust in the police and policing by consent in turbulent times

“…It is important however to distinguish policing by consent from a naively utopian conception of all police interference with liberties as consensual (Bottoms and Tankebe 2017). Similarly, policing by consent cannot not be conceived as coextensive with public confidence in the police (measures of which fail to give proportionate weight to the views of the marginalised and disenfranchised members of the community that are disproportionality in receipt of police attention (Torrible, 2018, p. 466)). Thus, while empirical verification of levels of confidence in or compliance with the police is valuable, the idea of “policing by consent” must extend to something beyond a set of such measures.…”

“…In contrast Beetham (1991, p. 10) insists that "[a] given power relationship is legitimate not because people believe in its legitimacy but because it can be justified in terms of their beliefs." This distinction arguably underlies the "double-edged sword" of procedural fairness articulated by MacCoun (2005) and more recently by Hough et al (2016) and is also reflected in the distinction drawn between "public confidence in" and "legitimacy of" the police complaints system noted by Torrible (2018). Further, Reiner's nuanced analysis of the historical antecedents and contours of police legitimacy largely equates policing by consent with police legitimacy, whereas Brodgen argues that the idea of policy by consent is better conceived as an ideology (Brogden, 1982, p. 170) (and is therefore distinguishable from other discussions of police legitimacy).…”

Symbolic Representation, Expectancy Disconfirmation, and Citizen Complaints Against Police

“…To test whether the first step of symbolic representationthe passive representation/perceived legitimacy-linkage exists in policing; we examine citizen complaints against police. Citizen complaints have regularly been used as a measure of perceived legitimacy (see, for example, Archbold & Schulz, 2012;Torrible, 2018). Complaints are the primary (often the only) mechanism by which citizens can register concerns about police behavior and those concerns reflect not only the actions of individual officers but also the perceptions of the citizen regarding the fairness or justifiability of those actions (Goodman-Delahunty et al, 2013).…”

Civilian oversight of the police: The case of Kenya

“…As found to be the case elsewhere, and not unreasonably, complainants expect an outcome to their complaint (see, for example, McGuinness, 2016; Walsh and Conway, 2011). Whether their complaint is upheld or not upheld, they expect a reasonably quick, fair and clear independent decision or determination one way or the other and they have no interest in being subjected to a complex, administratively burdensome, overly legalistic and adversarial process that is dishonoured by chronic delays, or inconsistent and disproportionate outcomes (see, for example, Brewer, 2007; Porter and Prenzler, 2016; Prenzler et al ., 2010; Torrible, 2018; Webbe et al ., 2011). If a complaint is upheld, a complainant may also reasonably expect some action to be taken as a result (McGuinness, 2016).…”