Civil Oversight Practices in Europe: Exploring the Impact of Civil Movement Against Police Stops

Non-state actors are playing a variety of roles in the governance of police stops. Civil society groups monitoring police practices are emerging across Europe, giving shape to new forms of civil oversight. This chapter scrutinises these advocacy groups, which show significant cross-national differences in terms of its composition, impact and strategies. There are also differences with regard to the specific, over-policed population groups that are actively participating in these oversight developments. These changes are taking place in the framework of a policing scenario characterised by the ‘high visibility’ of police practices. The chapter also explores the proliferating forms of informal oversight carried out by lay people recording police stops, scrutinising if and to what extent these DIY oversight practices are reinforcing police accountability.