Police Powers and Accountability

The traditional view of the role of the police had come under increasing attacks in the early 1980s. The riots of 1981 and the Scarman Inquiry stimulated a widespread public debate about policing, police powers and accountability. It had become clear that the police did not simply enforce the law. They also made policy about what law to enforce, when to enforce it and against whom to enforce it. It was the control of this discretionary power which was at the heart of the debate at the time.

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