Police Discretion What Is Police

Police Discretion

What is police discretion?

Police discretion is the utilization by law enforcement personnel of judgment based on both good and questionable knowledge regarding who to investigate detain and arrest, based not specifically on obvious criminal intent or witnessed criminal acts but instead on the appearance and the context (where they are, how they are perceived to be acting, what they are doing) of the individual. Discretion can involve the police officer's perception of behavior, beyond a criminal act. Police discretion is often referred to as street-level decision making on the part of officers in the field. The police must be allowed the opportunity to use discretion to a large degree because they, by the nature of their work often face situations that require rapid thought and action to keep the public and themselves safe (Sims, Ruiz, Weaver, & Harvey, 2005, p. 247)

In other words it is not illegal to run from anyone, but the mere act of running from the scene of a crime or from the police often ends in the individual being detained, questioned and in some cases arrested for crimes that they did or did not commit because police discretion is utilized to presume that running from such a scene is a guilty act. Subtler clues can also lead to discretionary acts by officers as well, in some areas simply standing on a street corner wearing certain colors or acting in certain ways can constitute the reason for a discretionary decision on the part of an officer. There have been many times in history where police discretion was relatively unchecked and simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time could constitute a reason to detain an individual and charge him or her with a minor crime if no other connection to greater crime was found, "Because almost anything counted as vagrancy or one of the cognate crimes, such as loitering, the police always had the discretion to arrest a suspect, even a law-abiding one," (Miller, 2010, p. 68). Though police discretion has been curtailed to some degree and is said to be balanced by the fact that other agencies and officials must support discretionary decisions, especially with regard to filing charges and prosecuting individuals, yet it must also be noted that if the police had not detained and called attention to the individual he or she would not be within the confines of this decision making process and would not be subject of inquiry (Miller, 2010, p. 15).

II. Do you consider police discretion ethically wrong, or a form of misconduct on the part of the police? Or is it a good thing to have and use. How do you feel about the practice?

Police discretion is an absolutely essential aspect of policing. There is no way around utilizing police discretion in many instances as short of traffic violations the police are rarely lucky enough to witness a criminal act and therefore police officers are required to build knowledge, both good and questionable that allows them to make rapid decisions about the behaviors of others based on relatively few cues, "policing necessarily and inevitably involves discretion…"(Murakawa & Beckett, 2010, p. 706). The basic ethical grey area of police discretion is when such discretion includes issues that identify individuals as presupposed to criminal behavior simply by virtue of appearance, and especially race.

Greater emphasis has been paid on the idea of race and class as biasing forces in institutional discrimination over the last twenty or so years and the agencies who enforce the law, defend individuals from it and prosecute in its name are far more scrutinized than they have been in the past regarding police and other discretion, yet it is clear that an ethical balance has not yet been reached. It is also clear that the discretionary power of the police is greater in the case of lesser offences than in more serious crime, likely as a result of the higher stakes associated with such criminal behavior (in act and outcome) as well as the greater amount of scrutiny associated with procedural behaviors on the part of the police and others with regards to prosecution. It is even argued by some that police discretion has been intensified and legitimized more heavily in the last 10 years when it comes to non-violent, or lesser offences (Murakawa & Beckett, 2010, p. 706). Yet, this clearly does not eliminate the possibility of abuse of power and wrongful use of police discretion as the disproportionate application of justice upon those of lower class and of minority races is fundamentally present in both lesser and greater crimes.

III. If you were a supervisor within a police department, how would you manage or control the discretionary practices of your officers?

One of the most important aspects of managing and controlling police discretion has to do in part with staffing, recognizing who has the valuable knowledge to use discretion effectively and who would be better suited to stand back and learn this knowledge from those who are more adept with it. Perhaps those who have had more time in a given community or who have worked in many areas of the department and seen a greater variety of regional and community crimes and criminal behaviors should serve as mentors to those who have less experience. Additionally open door communication between departments and agencies as well as officers of varied ranks is essential to the development of proper use of discretion on the streets and in investigations. Sims, Ruiz, Weaver, & Harvey note that police discretion, and its allowance of use both in and out of balance is associated with several factors, both internal and external, "street-level decision-making by police officers is influenced simultaneously by departmental rules about the use of discretion, the extent to which the department is decentralised, and the more general views and expectations by the citizenry…" (2005, p. 247). The most essential aspect of police discretion and it's balanced use then lays in appropriate policy, communication of that policy, internal climate and culture within a department and the expectation of the broader community. Therefore communication regarding the use of discretion as well as balanced policy, associated training and the tolerance for use of discretion must be clear and communicated well. Additionally, police discretion issues when they are deemed or suspected of being unbalanced should be thoroughly reviewed on a constant basis and communications of ethical breeches should be performed with all those involved, possibly including community stakeholders as well as offenders and others affected by police discretion decisions.