25 Years Later: Policing and the UK Human Rights Act

• In Event: POLWG Panel 27. Policing, politics and Human Rights in national and international contexts

Abstract

In 2000, the Human Rights Act 1998 came into force. This constitutional legislation aimed to “bring rights home” to the UK public by placing an obligation upon public authorities to adhere to the rights and freedoms of the European Convention on Human Rights. Overnight, police forces and other national policing organisations became accountable in domestic courts for failures to follow the ECHR, forcing a fundamental rethink of the role of the police and their relationship with the public.

This paper presents the initial findings of a project investigating the extent to which the police service in England and Wales has succeeded in adapting to this new legal framework. It argues that important changes have occurred, particularly early in the life of the HRA. However, 25 years later, rather than becoming embedded in the day-to-day operation of the police, human rights remain an often-misunderstood ‘add-on’ to policing, typically subsumed by other laws, guidance, policies, and practices. While some specialist areas of policing - including public order, firearms, and missing persons - have embedded human rights to a greater extent, in routine policing, they are often forgotten in practice.

Empirical research based on ethnographic observations, surveys, and interviews, demonstrates the limitations of the police service’s adherence to human rights obligations, resulting from inadequate training of recruits, confusing or misleading guidance, insufficient supervision and internal accountability, and poor leadership. Even in areas where rights are more embedded, there is often pushback, victimising marginalised communities. However, this is not purely the fault of the police service; the Act itself, subsequent legislation, and the courts, have failed to provide adequate clarity, guidance, and resource to enable the service to adapt to the human rights-based framework, delivering conflicting priorities for the police and setting them up for failure in this vital aspect of their work.

Author

• Geoff Pearson, University of Manchester