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Rethinking police accountability and transparency within the EU: reconciling national and supranational approaches

McDaniel, John (2015) Rethinking police accountability and transparency within the EU: reconciling national and supranational approaches. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent,. (KAR id:48070)

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Abstract

The new terrain of increasing interaction between national and supranational legal systems within the European Union presents new challenges for conventional approaches to police accountability and transparency. Each EU Member State is responsible for policing within its jurisdiction, and the EU institutions are increasingly responsible for enhancing the conduct of police cooperation between the Member States. The thesis explores the challenges of reconciling national approaches in the international sphere by conducting a critical analysis of ‘how and to what extent national legal and administrative norms on police accountability and transparency are informing the concept, design and operation of EU cross-border policing instruments’.

Building on the work of Peter K. Manning, Geoffrey Marshall and David Bayley amongst others, the thesis develops a pragmatic typology of police accountability through which to view the evolution and adequacy of national and supranational approaches. The typology contains three key dimensions, namely codes, co-option and complaint. Using the typology to critique conventional approaches in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, the thesis identifies legal and procedural anomalies and challenges at both the national and supranational level since the traditional elements of police accountability were originally formulated within the confines of national legal, political, historical and cultural constraints.

Employing the typology to both elucidate problems and suggest methods of internalisation, the thesis argues that the EU should follow the lead of the Member States’ legislatures by seeking to regulate a wider range of policing processes through more expansive procedural ‘codes’ which facilitate police discretion and co-option. The thesis shows that it is not sufficient for the EU to prioritise its post-Lisbon policy of ‘co-decision’ in order to remedy its democratic deficits but that it must oversee the establishment and enhancement of parliamentary committees, inspectorates and other oversight bodies in the interest of police accountability. A number of recommendations are made for police reform at both the national and supranational levels to this end. More particularly, the research indicates that additional treaty changes are needed beyond the Lisbon Treaty in order to adequately reconcile national and supranational approaches to police accountability.

I am grateful to the Irish Research Council for supporting this research by the award of a Government of Ireland Research Scholarship.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy (PhD))
Thesis advisor: Walsh, Dermot
Uncontrolled keywords: Policing EU Criminal Law Police Accountability
Subjects: K Law
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > Kent Law School
Funders: [UNSPECIFIED] Irish Research Council
Depositing User: Users 1 not found.
Date Deposited: 28 Apr 2015 09:00 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2021 13:24 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/48070 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

McDaniel, John.

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