WHAT THE POLICE CAN AND CANNOT DO

Abstract

The role of the police in protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens represents a special challenge. In order to uphold the rule of law in a democratic society, those entrusted with preserving order in society must also be held accountable to the law. Every day, police officers are human rights defenders in the truest sense of the word, but in order to fulfill their duties and tasks they often have to violate the rights of those whose actions violate the rights of others. The challenge of striking the necessary balance between police powers and the rights and freedoms of citizens is not new. It is often expressed in terms of accountability, legitimately raising the age-old question – who will watch the watchmen? The subject of this paper is to clarify the relationship of the police to their powers in terms of determining what the police can and cannot do. The aim of the paper is to highlight that only lawful exercise of police powers is correct and only if police officers apply them in that way they will not be under scrutiny for accountability, at the same time creating a positive attitude among citizens towards the police as an organization.