Impact of accountability on the performance of police service: Palestinian police case study

• Published date: 01 May 2019
• Date: 01 May 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1870

ACADEMIC PAPER

Impact of accountability on the performance of police service:

Palestinian police case study

Ayman Taha Hassan Ahmad |Khaled Barakat

Department of Public Administration, Faculty

of Economics and Political Sciences, Cairo

University, Giza, Egypt

Correspondence

Khaled Barakat, Department of Public

Administration, Faculty of Economics and

Political Sciences, Cairo University, 12613

Giza, Egypt.

Email: adai_13@hotmail.com

In the Palestinian case, the police officers tried to provide some requirements and

undertake some development initiatives. The issue of accountability was the most

important part of them. Therefore, this research provides an assessment and analysis

for the issue of accountability in the Palestinian police. It aims to identify the relation-

ship and impact on the development of police performance. The researchers used a

questionnaire for this purpose, which was distributed to a sample of 332 police per-

sonnel in the four largest police departments in the West Bank. The SPSS software

was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that the elements of the

Palestinian police system are subject to accountability through clear structures,

mechanisms, procedures, and standards from inside and outside of the system. This

system of accountability has a clear impact on the development and improvement

of the performance of police elements.

1|INTRODUCTION

Insuring security and maintaining the public order are the most

essential duties of any government, whereby this role is assigned to

the police in any country around the world (Al‐fassid, 1998, p.5).

Police in democratic societies support democratic life and protect

lives and property, as well as prevent crimes within legal norms.

For this purpose, international covenants set legal rules to insure that

the police exercise their power, especially judicial power, without

favoritism or violations, that they are held accountable if they want

more legitimacy, and that they enhance their professional level

(Loveday, 1998).

Palestinians have been increasingly interested in reforming the

police and trying to control their work on the basis of international

norms and democratic standards. However, the accountability of the

police has not received sufficient attention, and reform programs have

not been up to expectations to enhance their accountability mecha-

nisms. From the researchers' point of view, this is due to a number

of reasons: weak systems, ineffectiveness, and a lack of integration

of all bodies that are authorized to subject the police to accountability;

the lack of awareness on the importance of their role in controlling the

police work; and overlap in regulations arising from different laws. So

this study aims to understand the reality of accountability as it applies

in the police service as well as the bodies that are most influential on

the police performance in Palestine.

Therefore, this study gains a great importance due to the specific-

ity of the Palestinian situation, as it adds modest aspects of knowledge

to the literature related to accountability and democratic police in an

exceptional context such as the Palestinian police, which is still in a

transition stage. The importance of the study also comes from the

possibility of generating new and useful ideas on accountability and

its role in controlling and improving the performance of the Palestinian

police service from the Palestinian police service leaders' perceptions.

2|RESEARCH PROBLEM AND QUESTIONS

In the Palestinian case, due to recent police experience, multiple legal

backgrounds, and overlapping foundations and frameworks governing

the work of the police, especially the clauses and articles of the

Palestinian‐Israeli agreements and their obligations, there were doubts

about the performance and ability of the police to impose mechanisms

to control their elements. This created a somewhat negative view of

the credibility and objectivity of the procedures and of the feasibility

of the police and its members' accountability. Through the researchers'

knowledge and experience of the Palestinian context, the practice of

accountability in the police has not received enough attention, and

there is no effective and integrated framework that organizes all

authorities and police accountability procedures in order to enhance

the police performance.

Received: 29 August 2018 Accepted: 27 September 2018

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1870

J Public Affairs. 2019;19:e1870.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1870

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of10