Who's watching the watchers? When police internal control covers up its own mistakes

The police of the Czech Republic rightfully expects respect for the law from citizens. Every police officer is entitled to demand compliance with them and to enforce them using the means entrusted to him by the state. But the same rules must also apply in reverse. The police cannot be only guardians of the law. Above all, he must be her example. And that is precisely why the Office of Internal Control of the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic exists - a unit that is supposed to be the last bulwark against arbitrariness, formalism and professional solidarity.

But what happens when this very unit begins to fail?

Then it is no longer a problem of one policeman. It is not even a problem of one file. Public confidence in the police's ability to police itself is beginning to crumble.

In the presented case, the citizen did not claim anything extraordinary. He did not ask for special treatment or exemption from the law. He only demanded what is the absolute minimum in a democratic state governed by the rule of law - that the control body respond substantively to specific legal objections. Instead, he received several sentences, the essence of which was a single message: there will be no further review.

However, this is not what the legality check looks like.

The Office of Internal Control is not established to administratively close files. His task is not to look for procedural reasons why objections should not be dealt with. His task is to verify whether the police acted lawfully, objectively and impartially. If the control body resigns itself to the substantive settlement of specific objections, it denies the very purpose of its existence.

It is alarming when a body whose main mission is to control compliance with legality uses an argument that itself raises doubts about respect for the principles of legality and reviewability. It may be administratively convenient to refer to § 97 of the Act on the Police of the Czech Republic and thereby close the whole matter. But the law is not about the comfort of the office. The law is about the duty of the public authority to convincingly explain why the citizen's objections are unfounded.

The most serious thing is not the result itself. The most serious is the manner in which it was achieved. In the submission, the objections related to non-reviewability, internal contradictions of the legal assessment, the right to legal aid, insufficient fact-finding and the limitation of the representative's participation were systematically elaborated. In place of legal controversy came silence. Instead of arguments came a formula. Instead of inspection came an administrative postponement.

This is not how the activities of the supreme control body of the Security Corps look like.

Control of the police must not be based on professional solidarity or the assumption that the police officer was right just because he is a police officer. Quite the opposite. The more powers the state entrusts to the police, the stricter must be the control over their performance. This is not an attack on the police. This is the basic principle of a democratic rule of law.

Any superficially reasoned handling of a complaint sends a dangerous signal to police officers: if the matter reaches internal review, it is likely to pass without further review. And it sends an even worse signal to citizens: even if you prepare a careful legal argument, no one has to actually deal with it.

Such an approach is a path to losing trust. And trust is as important to the police as legal powers. Without public trust, the police ceases to be an authority and becomes only a power apparatus.

At the same time, the Office of Internal Control of the Police Presidium bears an extraordinary responsibility. It is not an ordinary administrative department. It should be a model of legality for the entire Police of the Czech Republic. Every decision he makes sets a standard by which other police departments will follow. If that standard is that specific legal objections can be dismissed in a single sentence without substantive settlement, then this is not just a one-complainant problem. This is a systemic problem.

Public scrutiny of the police is not the enemy of the police. It is an essential part of it. The police, who are not afraid of control, strengthen their authority. The police, which reduces control to formality, weakens its authority.

And it is here that a question arises that cannot be answered with an administrative formula.

Who else should be a symbol of respect for legality than the Office of Internal Control of the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic? Who else should set an example of proper reasoning, objectivity and impartiality than the department that controls compliance with the law within the police? And if this particular department resigns from the consistent and reviewable performance of its control activities, then who will control the controllers? Who will watch the watchmen?

Source

1. Constitution of the Czech Republic. Constitutional Act No. 1/1993 Coll. Prague: Parliament of the Czech Republic. Available from:Constitution of the Czech Republic  

2. Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. Resolution of the Presidium of the Czech National Council No. 2/1993 Coll. Prague: Parliament of the Czech Republic. Available from:Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms

3. Act No. 273/2008 Coll., on the Police of the Czech Republic, as amended. Prague: Parliament of the Czech Republic. Available from:e‑Collection - Act No. 273/2008 Coll.

4. Act No. 141/1961 Coll., on criminal court proceedings (penal code), as amended. Prague: Parliament of the Czech Republic. Overview of legal regulations of the Police of the Czech Republic available from:Legal regulations of the Police of the Czech Republic

5. POLICE OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC. 2024. Act No. 273/2008 Coll., on the Police of the Czech Republic – published information. Police of the Czech Republic. Available from:Police of the Czech Republic - information on the Act on the Police of the Czech Republic