Police Officer Discretion

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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 to give them a warning rather than ticket them. If the individual is honest and has a reason they were speeding or their right tailgate light was out then the police officer can use their discretion and decide whether or not to give the individual a ticket. If the person is a repeat offender who constantly …show more content…
Perhaps they ticket them and have their car towed but do not arrest them. Or if the individual is heavily intoxicated and was showing great threat to those around them they may choose to arrest them, tow their car and ticket them. It would all depend on the police officer’s discretion. When it comes to a drug situation the police officer would use their discretion to decide how to handle the situation. For example, if someone is caught with drugs on them the police officer will take into account the amount of drugs they have, if they are a repeat offender, and the type of drug they are in possession of. All of the above mentioned factors would play a part in the way the police officer decides how to handle the drug situation. When it comes to domestic violence a police officer would use their discretion to figure out if the situation is safe to leave or if the aggressor needs to be arrested. The police officer can help elevate any further violence by using their discretion to decide the best way to handle the

Police Discretion

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…

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Comparison Of Police Brutality

how an officer of the law makes decisions and if there’s 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…

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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…

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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…

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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 to…

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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…

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Policing Culture Team Assignment Rough Draft Essay

Marshall Policing Culture The history of policing can be traced back to the beginning of time. When looking at the subject of police work there is a large culture and history that follows along with it. There are many topics that can be analyzed when identifying, and describing the elements and the significances that are associated with policing. A large element of the police job that plays a large factor in the work and attributes to the policing culture is the amount of stress that an office will…

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Dirty Harry Problem Summary

expectations of police officer roles and functions. This particular topic links back to Module 2. Police officers have so many roles and functions and are expected to resolve any situation that arises with the use of discretion. Along with the various roles the police have, they also balance the rights of individuals while taking in to account what is good for society as a whole. This can sometimes lead to “Dirty Harry” situations that arise in the community such as abusing discretion, uncontrolled…

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Essay Police discretion

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…

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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.…

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