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- Civil-police relations describes the relationship between civilians as a whole and the police force employed by the government. The police are law enforcements officers tasked with maintaining peace in the society. Among other public servants, police have the most contact with civilians, thus closely affecting the lives of civilians. Civilians and police rely on each other to maintain a harmonious society. While it is in the best interest of both parties to cooperate with each other, the relationship between them is not always harmonious. Different civilians of different countries have different relationships with their police forces. The relationships are diverse and complex. There is no uniform linearity in the relationships. One theory suggest that the police agencies reflect the beliefs and values of the society, thus the civilians are the one who ultimately set the benchmark for civil-police relations. Different police forces use different style of policing, thus there is a variation in the civil-police relations too. Public relations style of policing tend to be more favoured by civilians than intensive military style of policing. Civil-police relations draws upon a diverse fields including political science, law, criminology, criminal justice, philosophy, sociology, economics, psychology, cultural studies, and history. Many subjects and issues are explored under the concept of civil-police relations including police legitimacy, public administration, community policing, democratic policing, policing terrorism, racial disparities, and societal standards. Policing is believed to be inseparable from politics as police act under the authority of whichever government is in power. Thus, civil-police relations is also said to be the mirror of the relationship between the civilians and the government. The state of the police-civil relations is ultimately said to be measure of a country's democracy. (en)
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