The central issue in civilian oversight of police in Canada is to how to strike a balance between maintaining the independence of the police from political interference and holding the police service accountable to the various levels of government and the public departments. The police department is empowered with governance, accountability and transparency. A couple of significant mechanisms are aimed at accomplishing this: governing police boards or associations and public complaint bodies. The involvement of civilians in both of these bodies is what has come to be known as civilian oversight of police.
Role of policy strategies:
The governing police boards are accountable for setting priorities guideline and policy strategies, employing the chief of police, establishing an annual budget subject to council approval, along with entering into collective bargaining with police personnel. It is the duty of the chief is to implement the plans and policies laid down and encounter established priorities through the day to day operations of the police service and is also accountable to the board at large.
If you analyse the things deeply you can come across with insights into the effective functioning of governing police boards.The good boards understand what governance means and how to apply it in practice. Always they focus on working with strategic value, the policy laid down and managing risk factor in the future rather than concerning itself with day to day ongoing operations. The Board-police relations required to be as transparent as possible in order to ensure a high degree of accountability.
Public confidence in police services:
As we all know that civilian participation in police governance boards and autonomous complaint bodies contributes to improving public confidence in police services. Therefore when more work is needed in developing models for the governance and oversight of policing, however, there are practices that show promise. A professional support system should be followed to gain the benefits of the synchronisation.