Policing involves multiple non-negotiable situations based on extensive police powers and discretion, which inevitably leads to complaints from citizens. Over the past 25 years, several independent police complaint bodies (IPCBs) have been established in the UK, Germany and France to oversee police handling of complaints or to process complaints without police involvement, based on a variety of objectives. Anja Johansen compares these stated objectives in law and directives, formal descriptions of IPCBs, public inquiries, government reports as significantly reflecting core intentions and priorities behind IPCBs in the UK, Germany, and France, and identifies which objectives take priority within each jurisdiction.

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Image courtesy of interviewee. July 18, 2023