Article 59 of the European Code of Police Ethics, Recommendation Rec (2001)10, affirms that: “The police shall be accountable to the state, the citizens and their representatives. They shall be subject to efficient external control.” In an open democratic society, the control of the State over the police must be complemented with a way for the police to be answerable to the public that is the citizens and their representatives, through an External Oversight Mechanism. PREMS 062317 This handbook, produced by the Criminal law Co-operation Unit of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, gives a snapshot of police oversight mechanisms across the forty-seven member States as of February 2017. ENG The Council of Europe is the continent’s leading human rights organisation. It comprises 47 member states, 28 of www.coe.int which are members of the European Union. All Council of Europe member states have signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights, a treaty designed to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The European Court of Human Rights oversees the implementation of the Convention in the member states.