Police officers play a critical role in society. It is worth noting that the community depends on the police department to maintain law and order. Police discretion refers to decision-making powers that are afforded to police officers. Police officers are faced with dynamic situations, which they should make decisions. Therefore, police officers have the freedom to make a specific decision based on the situation at hand, without immediate supervision. Police discretion is an essential aspect of the criminal justice system. There is a dilemma between the spirit of the law and the enforcement process. During training police officers are exposed to different scenarios that may demand personal decisions. There are various loopholes in the law; hence, police are allowed to use discretion. The law in some situation is ambiguous, which forces the police use discretion in handling the scenario. In the general perspective, police discretion is bound by certain norms, which include moral, legal, professional and social norms.
There are positive uses of discretion in the criminal justice system. Police discretion enables the police to make urgent decisions. Discretion enhances flexibility in the law enforcement process, which make the police officers perform necessary duties. Also, police officers are given an opportunity to treat people in a humane way and to give them a second chance. Studies show that police discretion has improved public perception of law enforcement and increased trust between the police officers and citizens. The positive use of police discretion is that it promotes job satisfaction. The use of discretion is attributed to efficiency in the police department and criminal justice system. There are various situations that discretion is used positively. These scenarios include traffic violations, potential hate crimes, domestic violence, as well as crimes involving mentally ill people (Myhill & Johnson, 2016). Discretion is used positively to reduce the number of cases in the criminal justice system.
Discretionary powers can be abused by law enforcement officers. It is worth noting that the discretionary powers exercised by legal and administrative authorities are not binding. Discretionary powers are granted through delegation or a statue. These powers are sometimes abused by police officers and other criminal justice actors. Abuse of the discretion powers is believed to reverse a decision. Abuse of discretion powers leads failure in the administration of justice. The police abuse discretion powers because it is very difficult to control the police officers. Police officers who abuse discretion powers are associated with police misconduct. In fact, abuse of discretion powers increases tension and the gap between the public and the police. Trust between the law enforcers and the public is adversely affected (Gerstein & Prescott, 2015).
Abuse of discretion powers is associated with improper consideration of laws and facts relating a specific scenario. Abuse of discretion powers leads to discrimination among the police officers. In most cases, police are believed to respond to scenarios differently depending on the region, race, and ethnicity. Legal administration and judges abuse discretionary powers in decision making. This means that individuals in the court of law may fail to get a fair trial and justice because judges abuse discretionary powers. Also, abuse of discretionary powers by police department lead to denial of due process (Parker & Sarre, 2008). The constitution gives all people the right to due process in the criminal justice system. Other issues related to abuse of discretionary powers entails policy development and personnel management.
Proper application of discretion powers is an important tool in the police department. The banning of discretion powers is a major setback to the work of police officers. The police department will not exist if the discretion powers are banned. It is essential to comprehend that laws are crafted and will not be in a position to be applied in every scenario. Police officers must use discretion in scenarios that the law does not apply. The only focus should be the degree at which police officers use discretion powers. Police officers will not be able to execute their roles if discretion powers are banned. The police department has to apply their experience in analyzing a scenario before making a decision. There is a scenario that police discretion should be applied (Myhill & Johnson, 2016). For example, issues of drunken driving and domestic violence require decisions of the police. Police officers have to make reference to previous encounters and social status before making a decision.
Police discretion enables the police department and criminal justice system to prioritize cases based on the nature of the case. Without police discretion, there would be no order in the criminal justice system. There are scenarios that the law does not explain how to handle. For example, dealing with a mentally ill person makes the work of police officers difficult. Therefore, discretionary powers assist in solving such cases (Schulenberg, 2015). Banning police discretion creates a stalemate in the criminal justice system. This is because not every person who has committed a crime is supposed to go to jail. The banning of discretion powers leads to crowding of jails and overburdening of criminal justice system. In a critical analysis, the police department would not exist with discretion powers being banned.
Police officers exercise discretionary powers according to the legal requirements. Discretionary powers should be used by the police officers impartially and reasonably to avoid unnecessary injury. Police department use discretion powers in various level, which include patrol decisions, domestic violence, traffic offense, administrative, and criminal investigation. The use of discretionary powers is streamlined towards decision making. Also, the judges use discretionary powers in making their decision (Parker & Sarre, 2008). In the general perspective, police officers use discretionary powers in their daily activities. The use of discretionary powers by police is influenced by various factors, which include police-citizen interaction, race, and gender, situational factors, individual characteristics, departmental policies, neighborhood environment, as well as the local culture.
Discretion is used by the police officers in patrol divisions. Patrol decisions are one of the police officers decisions that demonstrate the use of discretion powers. During police patrol, the police officer uses discretion powers to determine the level of force to be used and make a decision on whether to arrest or not. There are offenders who have never been involved in any offense in the past. In such scenarios, the police use discretion powers by giving the offender a verbal warning (Schulenberg, 2015). Also, discretion powers are used in the detective division. This entails the criminal investigation department in the criminal justice system. Discretion is use in making a decision on which cases warrants investigation and the level of urgency. On the same note, discretion is used in determining the resources to be used during the investigation process.
In the general perspective, police discretion is one of the debatable issues in the United States. There are positive and negative effects of discretionary powers. Discretion powers among the police are important because it enhance flexibility and service delivery among the police. The laws do not provide guidelines for all scenarios; hence, discretionary powers are relevant to the police.
References
Gerstein, C., & Prescott, J. J. (2015). PROCESS COSTS AND POLICE DISCRETION. Harvard Law Review, 128(6), 268-288.
Myhill, A., & Johnson, K. (2016). Police use of discretion in response to domestic violence. Criminology & Criminal Justice: An International Journal, 16(1), 3-20. doi:10.1177/1748895815590202
Parker, A. L., & Sarre, R. (2008). Policing young offenders: what role discretion?. International Journal Of Police Science & Management, 10(4), 474-485. doi:10.1350/ijps.2008.10.4.100
Schulenberg, J. L. (2015). Moving Beyond Arrest and Reconceptualizing Police Discretion. Police Quarterly, 18(3), 244-271. doi:10.1177/1098611115577144
