A question posted recently on Quora asked, “Do police officers have too much or too little discretion? The … The Constitutional rights and legal issues that may be involved? Now let's look at another example. Police Facilities Planning Guidelines. 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We used a within-subjects experimental design and idiographic statistical analyses to examine the factors predicting 25 specialist police officers’ decisions to progress rape cases. POLICE DISCRETION importance of legitimacy is not a new idea. According to Hunter et al. This preview shows page 1 - 3 out of 7 pages. Examine several examples of police discretion and review the pros and cons to understand why people are for and against the use of police discretion. Discretion also gives police the ability to take alternative action with some minor matters such as public disorder offences. By Al Baker. Furthermore, the use of discretion helps to foster police and judicial economy. © copyright 2003-2020 Study.com. Imagine that Officer Bob is on patrol in an area known for drug trafficking. Get access risk-free for 30 days, The suspect obeys, and Officer Bob makes an arrest. {{courseNav.course.mDynamicIntFields.lessonCount}} lessons This was ruled in, and frisk” individuals if officers can reasonably articulate whether a crime has occurred (White, & Supreme Court Of The United States, 1967). It means that police in their blue uniforms often act as a line between lawfulness and illegal acts. Sociology 110: Cultural Studies & Diversity in the U.S. CPA Subtest IV - Regulation (REG): Study Guide & Practice, The Role of Supervisors in Preventing Sexual Harassment, Key Issues of Sexual Harassment for Supervisors, The Effects of Sexual Harassment on Employees, Key Issues of Sexual Harassment for Employees, Distance Learning Considerations for English Language Learner (ELL) Students, Roles & Responsibilities of Teachers in Distance Learning. The scenarios we have examined are extremes. Police Discretion Scenarios .docx - Part I 1 Officer Smith is responding to a call of shots fired with no further information It is 2 a.m and in a. However, the police have to use their discretion when deciding to perform a search. Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. When the police perform their official duties, there is a certain level of discretion they must use. Additionally, there are those who argue that the use of police discretion can potentially result in a violation of one's Fourth Amendment rights. Did you know… We have over 220 college To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page. Police discretion is a very important approach in matters concerning criminal justice. It is 2 a.m., and in a high-crime neighborhood. Proper use of discretion is probably the most important measure of a police officer or department. 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. - Definition & Laws, How to Press Charges: Definition & Statute of Limitations, Intro to Criminal Justice: Help and Review, Biological and Biomedical We know that there was a report of shots fired. The following are the types of decisions that might require a police officer to use his own discretion; this is not an exhaustive list, it is just illustrative to give you a sense of when an officer can use his own discretion. Emotions may play a similar role as these alternatives to controlled and calculated thi… The use of discretion allows the police officer the flexibility necessary to perform his job. The phrase the thin blue line is often associated with the police. Under current Supreme Court doctrine, police may stop pedestrians for a seemingly endless number of “reasonable” causes, allowing them wide discretion to search—or decline to search—anyone. When circumstances surrounding offences are taken into account, discretion can and should be considered in many of these cases. As a leading historian of (250-300 words). Conversely, critics of police discretion argue that such discretion can result in the misinterpretation of statutes and the abuse of the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. © 2018. The attitude of police administrators was that any deviation from accepted procedures was extralegal and probably a source of corruption. He pulled over Samuel Dubose on July 19 because of a missing front license plate. Services. According to McGregor (Kleinig,1996), discretion can only be interpreted as those decisions that are made with lawful authority rather than decisions made for illegal reasons. The, scenario does not provide much information about the teenagers appearance, however, as the, responding officer I can reasonably assume based on information gathered that one of the, individuals may be in possession of a firearm and could possibly be responsible for illegally. (2017), police discretion involves making a judgment about a specific situation (Hunter et al., 2017). discretion.12 Despite this lack of scientific consensus about how problematic exercises of police discretion such as racial profiling are best deterred, recent years have witnessed two major policy efforts to steer police discretion in particular ways. For body-worn cameras, this means that police officers have complete discretion as to when and how they use the devices. According to White and the Supreme Court Of The United States (1967) in order for an, officer to make a lawful detention without violating an individual’s fourth amendment right, the, law requires reasonable articulatable suspicion that a crime has been committed, is about to be, committed, or is being committed. Police discretion can reduce crime and save lives. The police see (or learn of) someone doing som… Study.com has thousands of articles about every Check it out and add your own thoughts in our comments section. Officer Bob pulls the car over and requests the driver's license and registration. Running head: POLICE DISCRETION Police Discretion CJA/342 University Of Phoenix Police Discretion Police discretion is an important tool in police work due to the law sometimes being too vague or ambiguous. It also allows the police officer to quickly interpret the applicable statutory law and then act upon the determination. He uses his own discretion to make this decision. Officer Bob sees the person assault a passerby and must now use his discretion to decide whether he will intervene and possibly draw and use his weapon, or call for back up assistance. You can test out of the However, the criteria for analyzing use of force can be easily illustrated using these scenarios. Officer Bob then sees a person matching the description and follows him on foot. An error occurred trying to load this video. Although policing requires officers to follow policy guidelines when making decisions, these nevertheless leave room for discretion. He wants to understand better why officers They are happy to find a video game that is on sale but decide to continue looking around the store. Examples of “minimal deterrence” could be police officers making the decision about when to turn the body-worn cameras on or off, or whether they announce that they are recording an encounter with the public. seminar “provided the forum for [police discretion] to be fully ventilated in New South Wales for the first time”.4 Scholars of policing have pointed out, however, that police work by its very nature is discretionary in the sense that it involves the exercise of choice or judgement. For instance, the officer could misinterpret a statute and make an erroneous arrest. (information) in a high-crime neighborhood in the early hours of the morning (time and place). Create your account. No matter which way you personally feel about the subject, the police must be sure not to cross the 'thin blue line' when it comes to utilizing police discretion. lawbreakers—how discretion exists at every level of the police organization. Let's look at some examples of when a police officer must use his or her discretion. As, the officer, my initial judgement consists of gaining as much information as possible whether it. This trend in police work has many advantages such as allowing officers the flexibility to handle each situation in a … In fact, others propose that the departure from classical rationality, such as the use of fast-and-frugal algorithms, is superior to previously held rational norms (Gigerenzer & Goldstein, 1996). | {{course.flashcardSetCount}} All rights reserved. Police Discretion Is Issue in Injured Bystander’s Suit. There are however, several scenarios where police discretion is either used or in some instances where even mythical aspects are involved. In other words, the statute may indicate that a certain act is illegal; the police officer can then expeditiously make an arrest based upon his interpretation. Jessica is a practicing attorney and has taught law and has a J.D. To explain some of the issues surrounding public order offences let’s consider this scenario. 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