Police Complaints and the Complainants' Experience

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

“…There has been much important and interesting research on complainants' views and experiences (Landau 1996, Learch 1998, Strudwick 2003, Waters and Brown 2000. These works note the difficulty in determining what it means for a complainant to be 'satisfied'.…”

“…On this measure then the system may be seen as 'effective' in a general sense. This leads to the uncomfortable situation whereby, despite the vast majority those who use the complaints system being very dissatisfied with it, and indeed, many having less confidence in the police (or even the law) as a result (Waters and Brown 2000: 627,631, Strudwick 2010: 43, Young et al 2005 it can be found that there is general public confidence in it and that it is thereby at some level 'effective'.…”

“…Further, the police complaints system is an important mechanism for bringing officer misconduct to light (Sanders and Young, 2008: 302) and the efficient and appropriate functioning of the system is considered fundamental to securing public confidence in the police (Maguire and Corbett 1991, Smith 2001, 2005, Waters and Brown 2000. It is consequently taken as axiomatic that the complaints system plays an important role in securing police legitimacy.…”

“…Debates about police complaints systems have become dominated by two analytical approaches. One focuses on the practical functions of the process and, in particular, on complainants' needs and experiences (Maguire and Corbet 1991, Landau 1996, Learch 1998, Strudwick 2003, Waters and Brown 2000, Smith 2001. A second considers the need for external involvement in the police complaints system and the difficulties inherent in achieving such involvement (Goldsmith 1991, Goldsmith and Lewis 2000, Porter and Prenzler 2012, Prenzler et al 2013, Prenzler and Ronken 2001, Savage 2013a, 2013b.…”

Is the Public Willing to Help the Nigerian Police During the Boko Haram Crisis? A Look at Moderating Factors

“…Particularly, it highlighted the demographic sectors that may see less favourably how the police handles the BH crisis and be less willing to cooperate and report criminal activity. There is a desperate need for public-police collaboration in Nigeria to be encouraged to allow the efficient policing of the extremist threat from expanding further (Waters & Brown, 2000;Moore, 1992;RDS, 2003;Tankebe, 2009;Tuch and Weitzer, 2005). The current research provides a starting point on where efforts should be focused to achieve such collaboration.…”