The New World of Police Accountability Free

It is rarely the case that a second edition of a book is worthy of a book review. Walker and Archbold's latest revision of The New World of Police Accountability, however, is an important exception. Although the framework of the second edition book is relatively consistent with the first, the second edition offers an extensive update on the evolution of police accountability since the publication of the first edition in 2005 and should be used in policing educational courses beginning in undergraduate and/or graduate and extending to police professions across the USA. The latest edition of this book serves as an excellent reference for the most up-to-date data and practices on the police accountability movement, including which strategies and tools are most likely to be effective in police reform and citizen oversight of the police. The author's intent for updating the first edition was to combine 25 years of intensive research and consulting on the issue of police accountability and 39 years of scholarship on policing to demonstrate how much the field has changed over time. These timely updates make the second edition of this book particularly appealing for law enforcement administrators interested in bolstering their accountability to the citizens they serve, as well as undergraduate and graduate students seeking to better understand the importance and evidentiary best practices of police accountability reform.

Similar to the first edition, “this book focuses on the strategies and tactics of the new police accountability” (p. 11). It highlights a set of evidence-based “best practices” that should be used in law enforcement agencies seeking to strengthen their relationship with those they serve. Chapter 1 begins by describing the key reasons why police departments should have the same policies and procedures: at least in the same states. It lays out the book with overviews and examples of good accountability programs for individual officers and departments. Chapter 2 discusses how the traditional police reforms have transitioned over time, including both the accomplishments police accountability reforms have achieved and the limitations they have encountered. Next, the book provides an overview of the critical incident policies that every police department should have, including deadly force, use of force, canines, and foot pursuits. These policies are important to departments to keep officers accountable for their actions on the job. Chapter 4 then explains problems with accountability regarding citizen complaints and what some departments have done to fix these issues. Citizen complaint investigation procedures are considered important elements of police accountability, because they strive to hold all officers accountable to the communities they serve. The authors argue that in the past, complaints have often been disregarded or not investigated to the fullest. The recommended new investigation procedures would assist departments in identifying potential performance problems and evaluating officers throughout their careers.

The second half of the book provides a more in-depth examination of each of the primary accountability strategies and stresses the importance of the “best practices” law enforcement agencies should utilize to ensure police accountability. These best strategies include critical incident policies, early intervention systems, and a more “user friendly” way for citizens to submit complaints on officers. Walker and Archbold argue that if every department had a critical incident policy for use of force, canines, deadly force, and foot pursuits, police agencies would have lower citizen complaint rates and officers would be less likely to take advantage of these policies. The use of force policy “structures discretion by specifying that there must be reasonable grounds to believe there is a serious potential threat to someone's life” (p. 75). Deployment of canines is an additional liability for police departments, and Walker and Archbold suggest changes to current policies from “find and bite” to “find and bark” as one important means of decreasing this liability. Next, Walker and Archbold argue that deadly force policies are the most important. These policies should have a strict “defense of life” rule with very limited exceptions to ensure that police officers use their weapons when absolutely necessary in the protection of their life or life of a citizen. Lastly, foot pursuits “are recognized as highly dangerous events that need to be governed by detailed policies providing guidance for officers and encouraging restraint” (p. 84). Walker and Archbold suggest a detailed policy for foot pursuits to ensure the safety of the officer and citizens whom may come into contact during the foot pursuit. These policies, if put into practice, have the potential to ensure lower risk of error; if every officer complies.

In The New World of Police Accountability, the authors note that the value of early intervention systems (EIS) is to hold individual officers accountable for their actions while on duty. “An early intervention system is separate from a department's formal discipline system and is designed to act early, before an officer is engaged in a serious incident, and prevent future misconduct” (p. 137). If developed and operated correctly, this system can identify an officer from their peers with apparent patterns of serious misconduct and address the problem before it intensifies. Although these systems are not mandatory for law enforcement agencies, in the late 1990s the USA. Department of Justice recommended EIS as a “best practice” in policing back in the 1990s, stating such a policy would promote proactive police accountability.

Additionally, Walker and Archbold argue that internal and external review boards integrated into police departments to investigate citizen complaints against police would further bolster police accountability. These boards consist of either an auditor or citizen review board which receives the initial complaint from a citizen on an officer and looks into the details of every grievance to ensure accountability. This process would begin with receiving the statements of the officer, citizen, and any witnesses as to what allegedly happened. After collecting all evidence necessary, the review board would decide if reprimand for the officer is required or if the complaint is dismissed. These complaints would go into the permanent files of officers, and be assessed by early intervention systems so as to identify officers with behavioral “red flags.”

The writing style found in this book is somewhat relaxed, easy to read, and straightforward. It may, however, be a bit challenging for those outside of the academic arena to understand; particularly due to the extensive number of abbreviations used throughout the book. For example, this issue occasionally causes the reader to pause and look back to refresh themselves on the meaning of certain abbreviations before continuing. On the other hand, the authors do a thorough job of updating relevant statistics and detailing the most up-to-date recommended methods of “best practices” implementation. This edition is especially useful when applied directly to current events, such as the Eric Gardner case in New York. When evaluating this particular case, if these policies were in place and used properly they would have illuminated previous offenses by the accused officer and most importantly highlighted the policy-banning chokeholds put into place by the NYPD in 1994. Walker and Archbold utilize evidence from the experiences of a variety of agencies since the publication of the first edition to note key limitations of each “best practice” policy they recommend. To illustrate, one significant “best practice” limitation highlights the difficulty in implementation due to the various differences between agencies throughout the county. In other words, one size does not necessarily “fit all,” and larger departments often have greater access to the funding necessary to ensure the long-term success of accountability practices.

Overall, this book is an excellent reference for scholars, students, and citizens interested in better understanding what police agencies across the country are doing to ensure police accountability. It provides a valuable roadmap for law enforcement agency administrators in today's democratic society. Police accountability has increased in popularity for administers who wish to demonstrate their departments’ transparent and accountable and for citizens who desire a better understanding of the ways in which law enforcement agencies can draw upon evidence-based practices to strengthen accountability. This book illustrates the value of these practices by highlighting the accountability practices that are currently working in large and small departments as well as providing evidence as to why others have failed to produce positive results. In an age of increased police scrutiny and heightened awareness of the tenuous relationship between citizens and the police in many communities across the country, the second edition of The New World of Police Accountability is an invaluable source of information to both the police and the public.