Police Discretion Essay

Police discretion is a very important part of the entire criminal justice system. Police officers find themselves in situations every day that simply put cannot be accounted for in a rulebook. Police discretion is the idea that an officer will have the ability to judge a situation and act appropriately to it. This can be used in smaller incidents such as deciding not to give a crying pregnant woman a ticket, to some larger decisions such as an emergency sweep of a criminal’s house. A large majority

Police possess more powers than the normal citizen so there is a need to provide guidance to the officers so that they do not overstep the boundaries of that power. By providing defined guidelines it guarantees that officers will perform their duties consistently to ensure that they enforce laws and protect the public fairly. Since officers have the ability to apply discretion while exercising those duties there is a need to provide a medium between rigid enforcement and unlimited freedom of discretion

encountering criminals. Although discretion is at all levels of the police department, law enforcement agencies can easily make unlawful decision. Researchers determined that police officers are prohibited from using offensive language or speaking discourteously, abusing their authority, and using unnecessary force (Carroll, Kovath, & Pereira, 2004). Law enforcement officers are expected to respect their community and ensure that all citizens are kept safe. Some police activity can occur in a private

Bhote 1 Tenzing Bhote Professor Shawn Hill AJ 101 16 April, 2016 Power of Law “Discretion has the meaning of acting on one 's own authority and judgement. In law, discretion as to legal rulings, such as whether evidence is excluded at a trial, may be exercised by a judge. Some view discretion negatively, while some view it positively. Discretion is at all levels of law enforcement.” Discretion is a ubiquitous and legitimate aspect of modern policing, though it’s scope and limits are poorly understood

Police officers make numerous, complex decisions throughout the duration of their shift. Decisions such as, whether or not to stop a speeding car, write a citation, make an arrest, etc. Officer discretion is defined as “the exercise of individual judgement, instead of formal rules, in making decisions.” (Bohm & Haley 2014, p. 255) One of my duties as a patrolman is enforcing traffic laws. During my shift, I may stop five cars for speeding, two cars for light law violations, and one car for a seatbelt

Justice V. Police Discretion and the “legalities” that go with it Griffin C. Brown Charleston Southern University  Abstract This paper explores the inequality in our criminal justice system today. Several examples were cited from movies, textbooks, court cases and articles on the topics, bringing to light the controversy that our society is dealing with every day. Our police force and court systems are being manipulated by the use of money to influence outcomes in trials, and it provides a prejudicial

Discretion of a police officer is the subject I would like to tackle. In this paper I will discuss the issues I have with the discretion, the problems with these discretions I have, and how some officers may use discretion to their advantage. By the conclusion of the paper the reader will be educated on the subject of discretion and the issues facing it. Discretion is defined by Pollock (2010) as, “having the authority to choose between two or more courses of behavior. Law enforcement professionals

4. First one must know what police discretion is, discretion is the freedom to decide what or how something done in a particular situation. So police discretion is when the Cop decides what to do in a dangerous or non-dangerous situation. There are a number of factors that influence this discretion the first being characteristic of the crime, meaning the cop is going to act differently when called to a more violent crime like a bank robbery were the offenders may be armed, than being called to the

Police Discretion Police discretion is one of the most complicated topics. The general definition for police discretion is technically up to how one looks at it. Each police officer has their own discretion in handling every situation they go through, and of course there are guidelines on police discretion. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary definition of discretion is still broad but answers the missing parts, “The quality of having or showing discernment or good judgment: the quality of being discreet:

the concept of discretion is to explore how police use it. Guyot (1991) examined how officers use discretion and found that officers, in order to apply discretion correctly, should possess certain qualities. First, officers should be curious. They must have the will to inquire into situations, especially those that are unusual or suspicious. Second, officers must be able to perceive danger. The ability to evaluate a situation in terms of dangerousness is critical to the safety of police officers, but