A member of the North's Independent Commission for Police Complaints, Ms Geralyn McNally, has told a policing conference in Sydney that the essence of a successful and widely acceptable police force is proper accountability.
"Accountability cannot be the responsibility of a single body," she said. "Policing must be overseen by both internal and external regulatory mechanisms."
Ms McNally said that policing was too important a matter to be left to the police alone. It could only succeed if it occurred in partnership with the community.
"Growth of accountability requires a well-developed civic society with a free press and with a genuine commitment to human rights."
Ms McNally said that in her experience in the North, the complaint process was most universally criticised for its ineffectiveness and inability to hold accountable those police officers against whom the allegations of a criminal or civil nature have been made.
"Civilian oversight bodies, as the title suggests, should be primarily independent of police and transparent in the process of supervising and overseeing law enforcement," she said.
"Since the source of complaints is more often than not an allegation of infringement of personal/human rights, there is a need to balance rights of complainants and police during the investigative process.
"Likewise, it should be remembered that police actions may involve the limitation of an individual's rights which may be justifiable in the circumstances."