Police discretion refers to the decision-making power granted to police officers that enables them to decide if they want to let simply a person off with a warning or follow police procedure (Rynardlaw, 2016). In this case, the police officers are granted freedom to make decisions on their job. Usually, the police officer is alone when carrying out his/her work, so circumstances arise where discretion come into play. Some of the situations when law enforcement officers exercise their discretion include traffic violations, domestic violence, potential hate crimes and crimes involving mentally ill people.
Police discretion is not absolute, and thus there is a need to control it. One of the reasons as to why it is important to control police discretion is the fact that police officers still have to pursue the codified regulations and rules for more serious occurrences. For example, a police officer cannot overlook a homicide. However, he/she must pursue all the rules relating to the likely cause to determine to make arrests or warrants. Also, forceful detainment or use of firearms must also pursue proper protocol and procedure. Furthermore, it is argued that police discretion is also one of the factors behind what people view as racial profiling. It is usually perceived that individuals of particular races are more probable to be guilty of crimes, and this may result in police decisions (Rynardlaw, 2016).
There are many factors that affect the discretionary decision-making of police officers. One of such factors is the nature of criminal law, which has a significant effect on the discretionary decision-making of police officers. The nature of criminal law helps in determining the various options that are available for the police officer to take during an incident. Therefore, a police officer will only exercise his/her discretionary decision-making based on the available options resulting from the nature of the criminal law.
Reference
Rynardlaw.com,. (2016). Police Discretion. Retrieved 15 January 2016, from http://www.rynardlaw.com/Pages/PoliceDiscretion.aspx
