Document Type

Article

Publication Title

University of Chicago Legal Forum

Abstract

This is a paper about secrecy and policing. It is written at a time of intense discussion about policing in America. There is widespread concern that policing agencies have lost the trust of the communities they are charged to police, and that the "legitimacy" of policing is at risk. Part of what is needed, no doubt, is greater transparency around policing. People do not trust those who keep secrets from them. But it goes beyond that. For too long policing has operated aloof from the regular workings of democracy. And there cannot be democratic engagement with policing if what those agencies do and how they do it is kept from the people. The stage is set here, in Part I, with an instructive story of secrecy in policing. Part II makes the case for the governance of policing by democratic forces. Part III is a quick tour of the history of policing in the United States, to make the point that policing's autonomy from democratic governance is explained as much by history as by logic, and that despite attempts to bring policing officials closer to the communities they police, pervasive secrecy is part of what has led to a breach of trust. Part IV discusses the proper line between transparency and secrecy, arguing that while certain operational details of policing must be kept secret from the public, policing policy is properly the domain of democratic governance.

First Page

99

Volume

2016

Publication Date

2016

Download

Share

COinS