Command responsibility and the use of force by the police

Abstract

The police power to use force and firearms is granted to law enforcement officials for the fulfilment of their duties, and its exercise comes with obligations and responsibilities-notably in terms of the respect for and protection of human rights that may be affected by the use of this power. Drawing from findings and recommendations from the Amnesty International publication, Use of force: Guidelines for implementation of the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement officials (2015), this article looks more closely at the role of commanding and superior officers in relation to the use of force. In this regard, three layers of responsibility can be distinguished: • Commanding and superior officers can themselves be involved in situations in which force and firearms are used and in such situations are responsible for their own actions and omissions, for the orders they have given or failed to give, as well as for the planning and preparation of policing operations. • They are responsible for defining an operational framework that ensures that law enforcement officials resort to the use of force and firearms in a lawful and human-rights-compliant manner. This includes notably human-rights-compliant policies, operational procedures and instructions, as well as the provision of appropriate equipment and training. • They are supposed to effectively supervise and control their subordinates and to ensure that law enforcement officials are held accountable if they have resorted to unlawful use of force and firearms. When commanding and superior officers fail to assume their responsibility in any of these areas, they themselves must be held accountable.