This chapter locates the ethos of community-oriented policing at the heart of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) model in England and Wales and shows that the PCCs’ Police and Crime Plans should function as a key prism through which their performance should be measured. It focuses, in particular, on the Police and Crime Plans for Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and London, examining whether and to what extent they deliver a measure of community-oriented policing in practice.

The chapter describes findings from a research project carried out in collaboration with one UK police force. The project was designed to examine and understand the force’s welfare practices towards officers accused of misconduct and the impact of prolonged misconduct investigations on the mental health and wellbeing of police officers, specifically police officers who were subsequently exonerated. The aim was to identify new opportunities for mental health support, points of avoidable delay, demotivation and embitterment, and stress-reducing possibilities throughout the misconduct process, and to produce a simple and clear evidence-based set of recommendations for improvement.

The EU’s development of advanced instruments and processes of police cooperation on both policy and operational fronts presents new challenges and opportunities for conventional approaches to police accountability and transparency. Although no substantive mention is made of police accountability under Title V of the Lisbon Treaty 2009, it can be expected that the EU’s common transnational measures draw upon, reconcile and enhance Member State approaches to police accountability which are rooted in long-standing constitutional, legal and administrative traditions and values. This chapter will consider whether and to what extent various Member State norms on police accountability and transparency are informing the concept, design and operation of the EU policing regime and vice versa. More particularly, it will recommend the development of a new ethos of ‘transnational police accountability’ which should guide and shape EU policy-making in this area.

The nature of cross-border police cooperation in Southern Africa has undergone radical transformation over the past two decades. Numerous international treaties and agreements now formalize and enhance the conduct and effectiveness of police cooperation. Legislative and policy initiatives have given shape and form to a framework of cooperation, with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and its constituent Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (SARPCCO) at its centre. The establishment of Afripol in 2015 suggests that transnational policing is becoming more centralized, similar in ways to the EU transnational policing infrastructure. The chapter questions the wisdom of using EU structures and processes for police cooperation as a benchmark.