Accountability: the legal and regulatory systems that govern the police service. While the principle of operational independence means that the police service enforces the law without political interference, the priority and general direction of policing in Britain has been overseen by arrangements that combine local and central governance. More specifically, management and auditing procedures seek to hold individual police officers to account by scrutinising their work in an effort to promote efficiency and effectiveness. Police officers are also held to account by complaints and disciplinary systems. The prospects of accountability in an era when the role of private security and plural policing is increasingly salient are much debated.

Ethics: in policing terms references to ‘ethics’ usually indicates that the service needs to recognise its broader social responsibilities. Officers are encouraged to consider the implications of their actions, beyond their responsibilities in terms of law-enforcement, and the wider social and cultural context in which they exercise their powers. Codes of ethical behaviour differ from more traditional disciplinary frameworks in that they rarely proscribe behaviour considered unacceptable but instead outline normative ideals to which officers ought to aspire.

Human rights: issues relating to human rights apply to policing in two broad ways. Specifically human rights legislation that define relations between state and citizens have significant implications on the police service, variously described as the ‘state in uniform’ and the ‘citizen in uniform’. For example, the human right to personal privacy shapes the circumstances in which police officers can conduct surveillance operations. More generally, domestically and internationally policing has been increasingly connected with promoting and securing human rights through ensuring the rule of law and good governance.