Professor Andrew Goldsmith will deliver the the School of Law's annual Liberty Lecture on the topic 'Police Accountability, Legitimacy and Trust in Uncertain Times'.

Abstract: The lecture will provide a perspective on the changing landscape of police accountability of the last 50 years and ongoing challenges to public trust in police. I shall begin with the impact of police corruption cases in the 1970s and 1980s upon efforts to establish civilian oversight mechanisms, then turn to the rising tide of policing-related technology through the 1990s and 2000s, and how it has contributed to greater visibility of policing and reduced confidence in policing in some quarters of the community. I will also reflect briefly on attempts by Western police experts to export their ideas for accountability and police practice to the Global South. Today, I will argue, the police in many Western jurisdictions are now operating under conditions of extreme vulnerability. Public trust in police and traditional forms of police accountability are threatened by changes in the social media landscape and the digital ecosystem more broadly, as well as changes in society, culture and politics. These changes affect their operational priorities and effectiveness as well as degrading their public standing and legitimacy. In concluding, I will offer a few thoughts on how we might achieve greater police accountability and legitimacy. The analytical focus will draw mainly upon comparisons from Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the USA.

For more information and a speaker bio, please visit the School of Law website.