Most strategic police leaders accept being held to account for what they do as an integral part of living in a pluralist, liberal Europe (Marshall, 1978; Loader, 2000); but it is not always apparent to the public in how many complex ways and in what respects that accountability is manifested:

Encapsulated in this wry observation by an experienced strategic police leader are the elements that we shall consider in this chapter: the complexity of accountability; the offices, people or organisations to which the police are accountable; and the nature of the relationship with the media that the strategic police leader endures or enjoys, coupled with a detailed presentation of his or her responses to political direction. As we shall see, the responses vary across Europe, with rather world-weary observations from the member states in Western Europe contrasted with the sometimes tremulous but also resolute reactions from those who have recently emerged from the Soviet communist hegemony. These are by no means monothematic responses: most strategic police leaders in interview took time and care to formulate their replies. This was not a matter of choosing their words carefully to present a bland public image, but rather that they wanted to present a commitment to democratic principles, while at the same time noting ambiguities and complexities within the fact of accountability. It did not appear to us to be lip service: