Police Discretion Essay

Everyday police officers are faced with two difficult decision to make. Whether to intervene in the situation and how to intervene when they observe something suspicious or illegal happening. Police discretion is defined as having the power to make decision, and choosing how to respond to a given situation depending on the circumstances. Even though, there are law in place it is still up to a police officer own discretion. Ultimately, police officers have the choice to enforce the law and how to carry it out in public. In the text book “Policing America” by Ken Peak he states that there are two criminal law in discretion. “the formality and the reality. The formality is found in the statute books and opinions of appellate courts; the reality is found in the practices of enforcement officers” (82). He also, demonstrate when should each criminal law be use. However, there are negative and positive aspects of police discretion. Also, there are pros and cons of allowing patrol officers to make discretionary decisions.

The police are our nation’s most visible law enforcement entity. We see them driving and walking our streets every day. They are responsible for the safety and well-being of the people. In some instances, they have to make life altering decisions in a blink of an eye. Because circumstances are always changing, police officers are given a decision-making power called police discretion. It is up to the officer to use this given power for right or wrong.

In this essay a discussion will be explored about the benefits and problems associated with police use of discretion. Which current policing strategies have the most potential for controlling officer discretion and providing accountability, and which have the least, and why is that the case? And finally, how might these issues impact the various concerns facing law enforcement today?

Discretion is not doing as you please. Discretion is bounded by norms. The future of policing as a profession depends upon whether discretion can be put to good use. Two problems impending police professionalization, however, in that there are few uncontroversial areas in police work, than in other professions. Sometimes the public wants no enforcement, and other times they want strict enforcement. Citizens will scream false arrest in the first case, and some groups may file a write of mandamus in the second case.

Discretion in policing and the court system is a necessary and unavoidable facet of criminal justice work, yet it is still very controversial. Discretion exists when courtroom actors (police officers, attorneys, judges) have the flexibility to choose an appropriate response to a situation. Police discretion is defined as “The opportunity of law enforcement officers to exercise choice in their daily activities” (Nowacki, 2015). This means that actors with a great deal of discretion at their disposal may allow biases to affect their decision-making. These decisions lead to important implications throughout the criminal justice process, especially in the courtroom. The process begins with the decision to arrest by a law enforcement officer in the field. Once the case is forwarded to the prosecuting attorney, multifarious avenues of discretionary decisions are available to resolve a case. Potential issues that could arise and that are ever-present in everyday policing include racism, sexism and socialism (Miller, 2015). These issues ultimately have a negative affect on the criminal justice process, leading civilians to not trust the one process and actors that are there to help them. While discretion should play a role in the actions a courtroom actor takes and cannot be eliminated entirely, instead it should be limited and controlled throughout the criminal justice environment so that citizens can once again trust the process and so that there will be no disparities.

This could occur if an officer sees an off duty police officer who is drunk driving, but does not take action in pulling them over and arrest them for their conduct. If he does, the streets are that much safer, but if he doesn’t and the driver goes off and kills a person, that would make a bad use of selective enforcement (Lyman 2005).

By accepting the role as a police official, you have to use discretion. Discretion is defined as the availability of a choice of options or actions one can take in a situation. Discretion involves making a judgement and a decision to your best ability. Police discretion is exercised by performing the following actions: arresting; stop, question, or frisk; the use of physical and or deadly force; the documentation of traffic summons; investigating a crime; reporting a crime; and using certain enforcement tactics such as moving loiterers, warning, and etc. Discretion is exercised to enforce laws and maintain order and protect life and property.

Police discretion by definition is the power to make decisions of policy and practice. Police have the choice to enforce certain laws and how they will be enforced. "Some law is always or almost always enforced, some is never or almost never enforced, and some is sometimes enforced and sometimes not" (Davis, p.1). Similarly with discretion is that the law may not cover every situation a police officer encounters, so they must use their discretion wisely. Until 1956, people thought of police discretion as "taboo". According to http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/ 205/205lect09.htm, "The attitude of police administrators was that any deviation from accepted procedures was extralegal and probably a source of corruption. When it was finally

The disadvantages of police discretion mostly lie in the abuse of the privileges they have in regard to exercising the discretion power. Discretion has been seen as inviting partiality in dealing with the citizens as well as creating an opportunity for corruption. Others have debated that during discretion, the police don’t have the slightest idea about what could be the consequences of their actions (Peak, 2009). Police discretion is a potential tool for abuse that could possibly result into potential needless death and/or injury. A police officers choice may be influenced by personal factors that may determine an irrational decision. For example; In the 2005 shooting, that occurred on 126th Street between Fifth and Lenox Avenues, the suspect, Richard Gooding, ignored officers’ orders to drop his gun and began shooting. Five officers returned fire, fatally injuring Mr. Gooding and wounding Ms. Johnson in the right elbow. Garnold M. King was shot in the lower back; he has settled his lawsuit with the city.

Police discretion is an issue for American policing because how police use their discretion can greatly impact the public’s view on the police. First what police discretion is must be defined, “the leeway that officers enjoy in selecting from more than one choice in carrying out their work” (Mastrofski, 2004). This definition accurately sums up an ability the police use every single day that affects the public. The police can use discretion for almost any situation they encounter. There are many reason the police can exercise their own discretion the way they do, usually through personnel experience or departmental policy. While every person exercise discretion on a daily basis the reason police discretion is an issue is because they are agents of a government force that are allowed by the public to enforce the rules set down by members of the legislature that are elected by the public. Discretion for the police arises because of the individual subjectivity that each officers use when assessing an incident that requires police attention. An example is that Officer A does not arrest a teenage for underage drinking, he instead pour out the remaining alcohol and tells the youth to go home and that he better never catch him drinking again. In the same situation Officer B arrest the youth for underage drinking. The way these officers handle the situation different is police discretion. Officer B may have had a young relative that was involved in a drunk driving accident, either

Today, police discretion is a very important aspect to the criminal justice field. There are different substances where discretion is not discipline enough or not monitored enough even though having discretion is not always bad. There are still ways to abuse it and today police officers have their own way of using police discretion for different situations. Discretion can be defined as someone having the power or authority to make a decision based on what they feel should be done in a certain situation. Police officers are taught how to handle certain situations according the law. But when the officer is on duty no one is there to make sure that they are making the right decisions that follow the law and according to the law, there are not set guidelines in the law for police discretion which give the police officer an advantage. Discretion is used by police officers when they are facing a decision with a bunch of results that could handle the situation but the officer has control to pick which result they would want to choose.

I do not believe that police have to much discretion. This essentially helps making unnecessary arrest for citizens; thus, helps and provides justice. Although there are plenty factors, some influences that may influence decision making of a police officer could be there age and environment. An example of a police exercising proper discretion is a police offer stopping a lady to to give a ticket. As a result, he saved her front choking; thus, saving her life.

Firstly, we must bear in mind that discretion is not just restricted to police officers. In fact, it is prevalent in almost every facet of criminal law. The criminal justice system in the United States allows the use of discretion widely through the police, defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges, parole officers. However, as the ostiaries of the justice system, it is the police who make perhaps the most critical decisions. They are the ones who must decide how to diffuse a particularly heated crisis, or how to handle a particular offender. Their contact with the community is at the most personal and pivotal level. As such, their decisions – sound or unsound – fall under the greatest scrutiny.

When an officer is called out to a call, the way the call turns out will depend on the officer. When approaching a situation there is nothing more than just the knowledge that help was needed. The officer has to take the time to figure out what needs to be done. By using discretion and judgment the officer can help resolve, better or solve the problem at hand. Discretion is the decision making process used to solve a situation.

What is Police discretion? Police discretion is the avaiblity of a choice of options or actions one can take in a situation. (Dempsey, J. S., & Forst, L. Pg. 143). Our criminal justice system is based on a lot of discretion, from the streets, to the court rooms, to the parole offices. Each part of our justice system has some kind of discretion. The biggest part of disrection in our the Criminal justice system, is the police officers that patrol the streets every day, either at night or day. The police officers have to make a split second decision, and don’t have time to think about consquences or consult with one another. “The police officer is generally the first decidsion maker in the U.S. Criminal justice system and often the most important” (Dempsey, J. S., & Forst, L. Page 143).