Police Obligation

Principle 3: “ Police must secure the willing cooperation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public”

Police officers are faced each day with a vast array of situations with which they must deal. No two situations they encounter are ever the same, even when examines a large number of situations over an extended period of time. The officers are usually in the position of having to make decisions on how to handle a specific matter alone, or with little additional advice and without immediate supervision. This is the heart of police discretion. As we shall find, the exercise of discretion by police has benefits and problems associated with such exercise. The unfettered use of discretion can

Discretion is defined as the authority to make a decision between two or more choices (Pollock, 2010). More specifically, it is defined as “the capacity to identify and to document criminal and noncriminal events” (Boivin & Cordeau, 2011). Every police officer has a great deal of discretion concerning when to use their authority, power, persuasion, or force. Depending on how an officer sees their duty to society will determine an officer’s discretion. Discretion leads to selective enforcement practices and may result in discrimination against certain groups of people or select individuals (Young, 2011). Most police officer discretion is exercised in situations with individuals (Sherman, 1984).

In this paper, I will be writing about Police Discretion. I will start by defining Police Discretion then briefly discuss the use in domestic disturbances, minor misdemeanors, and traffic enforcement. I will also discuss the application of police discretion, the provisions it uses and how it is currently practiced. At the end of these brief descriptions, I will then present the myth that exists in regards to police discretion. And finally, I will end this paper with my personal opinion as well as a brief conclusion.

Yes, this indeed was a legal stop. This was a legal stop because under the stop and frisk exception police can stop a person on the streets and pat them down for illegal objects, so long as they have suspicion. And, during my midnight shift patrol I found it to be suspicious that these two men were behind a closed business. A business in which has been burglarized in the past. I do believe that stop and pat down was justified. I believe the stop was justified because the suspect did not appear to fit the time or place, as it was midnight and the business was closed. A pat down is to stop any further danger towards an officer and other people. A pat down should only be used to detect concealed weapons or contraband. So, I believe

Police officers are often viewed as oppressors and unjust by the community, when in reality they are just doing their jobs. The job of a police officer is to apprehend criminals and detect crime, and the maintenance of public order and to the extend and complication of this duty police officers often need to make split second decision that is not often view by the public as what we call “self-defense” which is a right we all have as human beings and stated in the Universal Declaration of

Police discretion is a very important approach in matters concerning criminal justice. There has been a consistent problem between enforcing the law and the spirit of the law. Discretion in the broader sense can be defined as the individual’s ability to make a decision basing on the principle of courses of the action. During training, police officers are given different possible scenarios that they may experience while on duty. However, the situations presented are not exact and the police come face to face with more riveting situations that demand their personal choices. The

3. Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observation of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.

Law enforcement leaders must be continually vigilant to ensure that the actions of their officers do not violate civil rights and do not compromise public support. The individual officer is granted a tremendous amount of authority and discretion to enforce the law. Their ultimate duty is to protect individual rights from being infringed upon by others in the community. They must never consider themselves above the law while executing their responsibility to enforce the law. This commitment is what distinguishes police in constitutionally based, democratic societies like ours from police in nondemocratic countries, where they are perceived as oppressive agents of a government whose main purpose is to restrict, rather than protect, the rights of civilians (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2006).

Unfortunately, not all police officers or citizens commit ethical or wise actions. Because of this fact, there countless problems between police and the public. An example could be issue with failing to protect human life, such as corrupt shootings or suicide. By understanding the issues and controversies that surround the public and police officers, difficulties on both sides can be recognized an a possible solution can be brought up. The policy’s ability to use discretion, should be limited so that it lessens the chance of corrupt misuse.

The purpose of the police force is to protect and serve while upholding Constitutional human rights. All police departments follow some code of honor that functionally swears them into oath that they will enforce laws while assisting and protecting the general populace. This much can be said about all police forces across the nation and of for the most part – the world. That being said, there is no exception in Aberdeen. Aberdeen’s department is composed of 45 active officers and 4 reserve officers along with 9 civilian employees. The mission statement that the department released to the population of Aberdeen declares that they will provide fairness in their judgments to promote trust amongst the community while demonstrating respect for each other and the general populous. Also, honesty and integrity are to be maintained while demonstrating competence in the environment. In serving the public they agree to regulate traffic abnormalities, investigate crimes, and provide escort services for business, funerals and so forth. But that’s not all, they respond to just about anything that is called in or brought to their attention by any other means, in quite a literal sense they are servants of the people.

policing is a pivotal part of effective policing, this paper will examine 2 articles that will discuss

The term referred to in this question is “community caretaker”. Law Enforcement first obligation to “protect” Law Enforcement protects the lives of others and when acting in that capacity of protecting lives the Fourth Amendment does not apply (Hunter, 2009). We in law enforcement also refer to another familiar term known as “exigent circumstances”. These are exceptions to the requirements of warrants under Fourth Amendment search and seizures (Busby, 2009). Under this exclusion Law Enforcement may act if they can justify and articulate the reasoning they believe that they wouldn’t have time to get a warrant because there is a strong likelihood the evidence would be lost or destroyed. They can also apply this exception when responding to an

This paper will describe police power and police authority. I will also talk about police discretion as for as whom gets locked up and who is allowed to go free. This paper will discuss the different use of police force. In this paper I will also talk about police attitude, police misconduct, and physical abuse among police officers.

The duties of a police officer, also known as a law enforcement officer, focuses on protecting and serving; people and property. They patrol the areas they are assigned, respond to calls, enforce laws, make arrests, issue citations, conduct investigations and occasionally testify in court cases. Rush is a movie that takes viewers into the undercover work of two police officers, Kristen Cates and Jim Raynor; who went undercover to catch a major drug dealer. While undercover both got sucked into the drug culture and compromised their assignment. When dealing with such assignments police officer should be careful because one does not know what the outcome of the assignment might be or even so how the assignment might affect them in the long run.