Essay Police discretion

Submitted By Sherwyn-Johnson

Words: 404

Pages: 2

Open Document

Police Discretion
Police discretion is an action by a law enforcement officer based on that individual's judgment about the best course of action. Their ethics is to adhere to moral duty and obligation to their work. Discretion can be used to approach the law differently. One way this can be used is deciding whether or not to pull over a vehicle, and issuing a written warning instead of a ticket for a minor traffic violation. Police discretion can serve as an important trait. It allows the officer to take an individual’s situation into consideration and make a decision that still upholds the law, but does not have a huge negative impact on an individual or their family. However low enforcement have to be careful in the manner they use discretion. It can be misinterpreted by other people as racism, favoritism or profiling. Police discretion and ethics contribute to the law enforcement officer make the right decisions, and doing his job more efficiently.
Three factors that can influence discretion are personal perception, personal experiences and community interest. Personal perception can be both a positive and negative factor in discretion. Personal perception could cause someone to treat another person with disrespect or show favoritism. Personal experiences can play a big part in discretion as one personal may have empathy for another because of being through a similar experience. Society expectations can also have an impact in discretion which varies depending on location.
A few months ago I read an article which displayed the perfect example of police discretion. An

Police Discretion

Assignment #2 Police officers have a very important role in which they play when on duty. They face very different situations as to where there are mandatory arrests that they have to do and where police discretion takes place. Police discretion exists as an important factor that gives authority to the police officers to take control of the situation based on the how unusual the crime is and demand a personal decision and as well as new laws being put in place which allows police officers the right…

Words 555 - Pages 3

Police Discretion

biosphere of criminal justice, which is police discretion. This paper will also discuss the various control mechanisms that is focused around police discretion. Identifying the need for discretion in law enforcement and the limitation of police discretion on the other hand. This paper will begin by providing the definition of what discretion is, and how it works within the context of law enforcement. The history of discretion and how discretion is exercised by police officers, for example: patrol to detective…

Words 1969 - Pages 8

Police Workload And Discretion

Police workload involves great tension between the use of discretion by officers patrolling the streets and how that discretion is used. Discretion is a factor in all policing to ensure they are enforcing the law properly and with dignity. Officers must follow proper protocol no matter how complex and active situations are whenever they are needed to intervene. Police behavior is carefully observed by the public to ensure that officers are showing respect to citizens and remaining professional on…

Words 94 - Pages 1

Police Officer Discretion

Commonly speaking, in a police officer’s jurisdiction they tend to have some discretion when it comes to how they choose to handle situations. Some calls they may have discretion on would be motor vehicle violations, driving under the influence, drugs, domestic violence, juveniles and vice crimes. During a traffic violation a police officer will be able to use their discretion in how they handle the call. If the individual who has been pulled over has not been pulled over the police officer may choose…

Words 489 - Pages 2

Essay Police Discretion

Police Discretion April 20th , 2008 One aspect of the criminal justice system that has been debated for many years is that of police discretion. Police discretion is defined as the ability of a police officer, a prosecutor, a judge, and a jury to exercise a degree of personal decision making in deciding who is going to be charged or punished for a crime and how they are going to be punished. This basically is saying that there are situations when these law enforcement officers have to use their…

Words 2798 - Pages 12

Pros And Cons Of Police Discretion

It is a controversy on whether or not police have too much or too little discretion when it comes to doing their job. It can be argued both ways. On one hand there are instances where it can be said that the police have too much discretion, while also it can be said that they may have too little discretion. Police discretion is not a black and white issue with there being a lot gray area. Due to the fact that it is such gray area there is no clear and concise answer to whether they do or do not.…

Words 481 - Pages 2

Police Discretion Case Study

undocumented situations on a day to day basis, police officers have no other option than to use their discretion by prioritizing which decisions they must face that can potentially do harm. This choice whether or not to act on a certain situation has been upheld for some time, keeping the criminal justice system open for serious offenders, without overcrowding the penitentiary with an array of low level offenders. At times, police officers need to use their discretion to the best of their ability based on…

Words 1268 - Pages 6

Comparison Of Police Brutality

guidelines he must follow? Police discretion is a vague, or an unclear term that has an appropriately vague definition. It is the decision making power given to police officers that allows them to decide if they want to follow police procedure or let someone off with just a warning. How officers treat each incident is very different in each situation. All of them based on the own officer’s discretion. Discretion can be found in a police officer’s decision to use legal sanction. Police officers are faced…

Words 1083 - Pages 5

Discretion 2 Essay

Discretion is very important when it comes down to enforcing the law (police officer). Police discretion benefits the overall police function in support of the community goals because it is responsive to the needs of the environments in which police responsibilities function. It provides for the quick, sometimes split second, decision-making process that is involved. It allows for a certain amount of vagueness the law, thereby allowing officers to deal with marginal situations as best meets immediate…

Words 537 - Pages 3

Discretion In Law Enforcement

Enforcement use police discretion on a daily basis in their work environment giving them the opportunity to have freedom to make decisions on certain crime situations to a certain extend. There is a thin line that the police cannot cross or they will be in violation of the law. When the police officer is left alone while performing their work they have to decide on their own in the particular moment what to do. The degree of force that officers use is heavily influenced by police discretion in the society…

Words 419 - Pages 2