DISCRETION

Discretion



Discretion

Background

Police discretion is a tool used by officers; it gives them the ability to utilize the law to the letter or not to enforce it to the letter of the law. Some say that latitude in decision making by frontline staff is one of the defining characteristics of human service organizations. Discretion is about making the right decision based on input of the situation and surrounding circumstances around the officer. The laws and regulations that are established do not take into account human nature and that in some cases there are legitimate reasons why we should not hold certain actions to the letter of the law.

There are a wide variety of causes of discretion. There is not an absolute to every situation every time. There are different people involved in different locations with different attitudes. Some officers believe that politicians enact laws to make symbolic statements and that they do not desire full enforcement of the laws. Age, race, income, attitude toward the officer, gender, and income status are all factors of how police respond to a situation.

Police Discretion

The literal meaning of discretion is to have a choice or the freedom to act or judge on one's own. Some decisions /actions are left at the judgment of the police because it is practically not possible for the law or jury to address every situation the police may confront on the field (Bowling, 2002).

On a daily basis, the police officers deal with numerous cases that are supposed to be handled on an immediate basis, at that moment the officer does not have the time to refer to the laws before making a judgment, this is where his discretion plays the role, when the situation demands him to take an impromptu decision. The discretion is also imperative when the ...