Dixon and Smith’s (1998) article, ‘Laying Down the Law’, analyses changing combi­nations of systems of accountability applied to the British police. Three key cases that tested aspects of police accountability are reviewed and developments such as opera­tional independence, liability for losses experienced by the public due to police negli­gence, and the increasing role of civil law proceedings against police are examined.

Neyroud and Beckley’s (2001) Policing, Ethics and Human Rights explores the devel­opment of a human rights/ethics-based approach to policing developed in Britain in response to miscarriages of justice, and perceptions of police racism and incompe­tence. The book distinguishes between personal, operational and organisational ethics and argues that each of these will become increasingly important in the devel­opment of professional policing as demands on the service become increasingly complex and performance is subject to greater public scrutiny.

White’s (2010) The Politics of Private Security: Regulation, Reform and Re-Legitimation provides an excellent account of developing approaches to regulating private security in Britain and the continuing challenges faced. Loader and Walker’s (2007) Civilising Security makes a strong case for enhancing the democratic oversight of policing activities in broad terms.

The website of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/)) ) contains many resources, including performance statistics, reports into specific complaints and links to other agencies and useful police-related resources and organisations.

The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners can be found at www.apccs.police.uk/, which contains links to the individual websites of Police and Crime Commissioners alongside much other background information to the office.

Information about ethics in policing can be found at the web-page of the Association of Chief Police Officers (http://www.theiacp.org/)..

An article by Chan provides a critical review of different strategies for accountabil­ity: Chan, J. (1999) ‘Governing Police Practice: Limits of the New Accountability’, British Journal of Sociology, 50(2): 251–70.

The introduction of the office of Police and Crime Commissioners is analysed in several journal articles, including: Lister, S. (2013) ‘The New Politics of the Police: Police and Crime Commissioners and the “Operational Independence” of the Police’, Policing, advanced access.

Sampson, F. (2012) ‘Hail to the Chief ? How far does the Introduction of Elected Police Commissioners Herald a US-Style Politicization of Policing for the UK?’, Policing, 1–12.

The relationship between private security and the state and the implications that this has for the legitimacy of the sector are reviewed in White’s article: White, A. (2013) ‘The New Political Economy of Private Security’, Theoretical Criminology, 17: 85–101.