POLICE DISCRETION

Police discretion

Police discretion

This paper will discuss the use of discretion in police work, including its many interpretations of the definition. Also to be examined will be diverse opinions on whether or not discretion should be controlled, and if so, how to do it. Finally, a list of police actions during which an officer might use discretion will be examined and whether the use in each action is reasonable, or an abuse of power.

Defining Discretion

When it comes to defining discretion, several diverse interpretations are available. For starters, according to Webster's dictionary, the definition of discretion is, “the power or right to decide or act according to one's own decision; freedom of decision or choice” (Hirschel; Hutchis & Mills 2002 45). This perspective on discretion is helpful for understanding how an officer makes an individualized decision of a situation but is still vague.

Discretion-as-decision

Discretion is the opposite of routine and habitual obedience. Police are not soldiers who should blindly follows orders (Theirs is not to reason why/theirs is but to do or die). Police should be more than competent at applying the rules; they should adapt those rules to local circumstances in a rule-bound way (North Carolina Wesleyan College website).

Discretion-as-choice

Discretion is not just a matter of realizing when you are in the hole of the doughnut, or a "grey area". It involves forming personal contributions, decision calls, exercising autonomy, and individual solutions. It is about the courage to make your own decisions, to have personal input, following your conscience, even if those decisions are reversed later by a superior (Davis 1999).

Discretion-as-discernment

Discretion is not just about forming "safe" choices, or being "soft". It's about forming good, virtuous choices by habit or the wisdom that comes from age (The better part of valor is discretion) prudence, foresight, the ability to size up people, arguments, and situations (Brenner 2008).

Discretion-as-license

Discretion is the opposite of standard expectations. It's the privilege to go against the rules, disobey your superiors, be less than optimal or perfect all the time, all without degenerating the rules or eroding the trust between you, your superiors, or the public. License (not licentiousness) involves a sense of accountability that does not have to be formally recognized or structural (Davis 1999).

Controlling Discretion

Police discretion in the past and present has led to incidents of non-arrests and leniency owing to the reality that laws are passed in a vacuum. That is, laws are made ...