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Examples Of Police Discretion

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I chose to write this paper on the research of Law enforcement and discretion. It is defined as “ the decision-making power afforded to police officers that allows them to decide if they want to pursue police procedure or simply let someone off with a warning.” Their discretion often differs from situation to situation. And police discretion is actually a daily ritual for each and every officer.
To give an example of day to day police discretion one would be a kind of classic example of when the police pull you over for whatever reason. Some people get a ticket and some people don't they just get a warning. This is up to the officer's discretion. Most of the time if you appeal to the discretion of the officer they won't give you a fine or ticket. …show more content…

If you tell the officer the truth about why you are committing the act in which you got pulled over for and the officer see you as a citizen with good moral character then the officers are generally convinced. And will often time let you go with that warning.
In addition to being pulled over there are a plethora of other times when police discretion is used by officers daily. Domestic violence is one of them. Often times police officers have to use their personal judgement to decide who is at fault especially if there is no physical signs of violence. Another example would be potential hate crimes. Officers have to use their discretion to figure out if a crime is a standard crime of if it includes hate crime

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One common opinion is that officers should not use more force than is necessary or reasonable, and even then, that force should be used only as a last resort. “Police use force to affect civilians’ conduct. On a day-to-day basis, they do so most often by employing the least degree of force available to them, their mere presence. Cops wear uniforms and drive distinctly marked cars so that, without saying a word, they may have an effect on citizens’ behavior” (Fyfe, 38). When an officer’s presence fails to fulfill the desired conduct, the next course of action for said officer would be verbalization.

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The officers failed to consider the broader context and potential ramifications of their actions. It could be argued that alternatives, such as engaging with the youths, building a rapport and educating them, as well as treating them with respect and fairness, rather than escalating the situation and disparaging the character of the youths, could allow officers to not only comply with policy and legislation, but also more effectively police their community by building positive relationships, channels of communication, and reduction of future crime (Chan, Bargen, Luke and Clancey 1997). However, these alternatives require the appropriate use of discretion which the officers failed to

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