Lessons from Reformers: Oversight and Monitoring of the Police

These case studies are featured in OGP’s Justice Policy Series, Part II: Open Justice paper. Read it here.

Justice Policy Series, Part II: Open Justice Explore how applying the principles of open government can create fairer and more effective justiceTo address barriers that prevent citizens from having their justice needs met, OGP participating governments are working to expand transparency, accountability, and inclusion into all systems of justi... systems.

There are a number of OGP commitments exclusively focused on partnerships and community-oriented policing. At this time, there are no commitments on oversight bodies (at any level), nor are there specific justice mechanisms to encourage public oversight of police actions. Examples of these mechanisms from outside of OGP are included in the  “Recommendations and Sample Reforms” section of the “Oversight and Monitoring of Police” chapter here.

• Afghanistan: Expand Public-Police Partnership Councils to all remaining provinces after initial success in 23 provinces (2017-2019).
• Georgia: Establish local councils composed of representatives from law enforcement, municipalities, legal organizations, and nongovernmental organizations to coordinate crime prevention measures (2016-2018).
• Panama: Create advisory councils made up of the National Police, citizen security organizations, and representatives of civil society to create and strengthen new citizen security programs (2015-2017).
• Ukraine: Train law enforcement officers in community policing practices, launch a complementary public awareness campaign, establish citizen advisory groups, create online resources for police-community coordination, and implement a “schools and police” project (2016-2018).
• Jalisco, Mexico: Create spaces for dialogue and coordination between neighborhood councils and local police in the Lomas De Polanco neighborhood in Guadalajara, Mexico, to improve citizen trust in police (2017-2019).

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