A concrete and precise application of the sovereignty of the People over the police force is the permanent popular supervision of the latter.
The aim is to prevent the risk, inherent in the nature and function of the police force, that its members behave in a suppressive manner.
The related risk factors, of which one is usually unaware, are as follows:
- Being in a loose cannon condition involves a tendency to take on the personality of the suppressive one is subjected to, and therefore to behave in a suppressive manner like the latter, particularly as described here in: Obsession with Control.
- The function of law enforcement, to stop individuals and actions harmful to the community, involves a tendency to become unbalanced in the "good control" (see here: Anatomy of Control);it consists of the ability to initiate - to start things, change - to make them last as long as necessary, and stop - to end them when necessary (think as an example of controlling one's body to walk from point A to point B); since the police force specialises in stopping, its members are exposed to the risk of seeing everything in terms of stopping, and therefore of degenerating into a tendency to stop anyone and anything.
- Law enforcement agencies tend to deal with negative individuals on a regular basis, and this leads to a tendency to lump everyone together and therefore to consider, and consequently treat, everyone, all citizens, as negative individuals.
When you see a traffic patrol stop a tuned car and ignore an unremarkable one, when you see them targeting speeders rather than those who obstruct traffic, don't be fooled by the suppressive rhetoric; this is what you are witnessing: suppressive behaviour.
Therefore, permanent popular supervision of law enforcement consists of specific and regular actions by the people aimed at neutralising these risk factors, ensuring that law enforcement officials have the right perspective on the matter, re-establishing it where necessary, and removing those who fail to re-establish it.