Kristal Rudy

April 25, 2017

CJ1010
Police officers and Discretion

In a world with vastly changing morals, opinions, and belief can one really say what

someone else did is right or wrong? Can they be an outsider and not be swayed by those morals

beliefs or opinions? Is it possible for one to step into anothers shoes and allow themselves to

feel and experience through words what another has experienced? Or will that wall of difference

of opinion, belief and morals continue to stand in the way of seeing, and feeling, and merely

experiencing the adrenaline and fear and other emotions one might experience before making a

split second decision. In this paper I want to help prove through research and fact along with the

opinions of other individuals how police discretion is a vital and crucial part of a police officers

job; and their ability to perform that job at their best.

Now to clear up the question of what is discretion it is the decision-making power

afforded to police officers that allows them to decide if they want to pursue police procedure or

simply let someone off with a warning.1 Let us think about this for a moment. If we cannot trust

someone who has taken an oath to support the constitution of the United States, their state, and

the laws of their agencys jurisdiction.2 How can we ever feel safe in our own communities? We

would not be able to.

1Blacks Law Dictionary thelawdictionary.org/article/police-discretion-definition

2Types of sworn law enforcement careers http://discoverpolicing.org/whats_like/?

fa=types_careers
 Assuming that all officers hold themselves to the high standard of the oaths they have

taken and do all they can to protect and serve the communities they are assigned to. Wouldnt we

want them to use discretion? Think of it this way. How many times have you changed lanes

without using your blinker to signal you were getting over? Probably a hand full of times I can

imagine. Now imagine that there was an officer watching you every time you did not use it and

they pulled you over and gave you a ticket because the law states you must signal before you

change lanes. Police officers would not have time to do anything else except pull people over for

not using there blinkers to signal they were changing lanes. Therefor there would not be anyone

available to go on the calls that were actual emergencies. Officers need their discretion so they

can see the grey areas not just the black and white letter of the law.

Rich Kinsey says Looking back, when I first entered the field of law

enforcement, I was nave. I thought it would be easy. Things should be black

or white, legal or illegal, and I would act accordingly. It didnt take long to

realize few things involved with human behavior are black or white. The best

cops operate in the gray areas of human existence. The gray area is where

we as citizens need the police to operate with confidence and good

judgment.3 If we ticketed every person who made the mistake of forgetting

to signal when getting over, or going 5 miles over the speed limit, or having

a broken tail light our courts would be overburdened. Rich Kinsey says

Should an officer write a traffic ticket to every driver pulled over for a traffic

violation? Without discretion, this would have to happen. I can tell you from

3 Rich Kinsey, The Ann Arbor News, Discretion is the measure of a police officer,
http://www.annarbor.com/news/discretion-is-the-measure-of-a-police-officer/
experience some people need tickets and other people deserve warnings,

with a little lecture on traffic safety attached 4Sometimes warnings are

justice enough and tickets are just not necessary. Christopher Hawk says

First, who would decide which crimes are "must arrest" or "can't arrest? One of

the reasons police have discretion is so they may take the totality of the

circumstances into consideration while investigating a particular incident to help

determine the need for an arrest. While many crimes are fairly straightforward,

there are also those investigations which require consideration of other issues. 5

Imagine a husband speeding to the hospital an officer pulls him over

and discovers he is speeding because his wife is in labor. Without police

discretion the officer would have no choice but to write this man a ticket

when instead he should give them a police escort to the hospital. Upholding

and maintaining the law is so much more than the black and white we all

believe it should be. People make mistakes and sometimes that is all it is and

a little warning is all that is needed however in cases where felonies are

committed there is no grey area only black and white.

Now to touch on the subject of whether or not all officers use discretion

appropriately is another topic but When officers, regardless of their motivations, fail to

4 Rich Kinsey, The Ann Arbor News, Discretion is the measure of a police officer,
http://www.annarbor.com/news/discretion-is-the-measure-of-a-police-officer/

5 Christopher Hawks,Do police officers have to much or to little discretion.

https://www.policeone.com/investigations/articles/6878880-Do-police-officers-have-
too-much-or-too-little-discretion/
do what they should, discretion is no excuse6 There is no room for an officer who has the

responsibility to uphold the law and protect and serve its community to sit back or not react to a

situation that calls for their attention. If discretion is properly linked to complexity, as suggested

above, it will become increasingly clear that discretion is, or at least ought to be, shaped by

professional police and departmental knowledge and skill, not personal inclination.7 Officers are

not pulling people over or looking into situations just because the way you dress or appear. They

do it out of the gut feeling that something just is not right or feels off to them. A research study

was done by the department of justice showing that In most of the cases, it was the behavior of

the suspect(s) that concerned the officer. This concern did not always result in a stop of an

individual or vehicle. In some cases, the officers realized that their initial Suspicion was

unsupported. In other words, once the officers became suspicious of an individual they were

equally as likely to stop the person whether or not the person was male or female, African

American or white, young or old, or perceived to be of a low or high socioeconomic status. The

type of area in which the observation was made8 In other words this study found that proper and

ethical discretion was performed in each situation that arose. Suspicion leads an officer to

investigate in which they then decide if further action is needed with their discretion and ethical

morals and values.

6 George L Kelling, Broken Windows and police discretion, Professor, School of

Criminal Justice, Rutgers University Research Fellow, John F. Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute, Oct 1999, Pg.38

7 George L Kelling, Broken Windows and police discretion, Professor, School of Criminal
Justice, Rutgers University Research Fellow, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
University Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute, Oct 1999, Pg.38

8 Police Officers' Decision Making and Discretion: Forming Suspicion and Making a
Stop, published by the U.S. Department of Justice, Geoffrey P. Alpert.
 In this paper I have outlines what discretion is and how it is used by officers and how it

should be used by officers. I have made it clear that discretion allows for officers to work in the

grey areas due to the fact that laws and humans are not always black and white unless of course

it is a felony taking place. I have used sources to help explain and show research and fact on this

subject and my hope it that you will see the importance of officers having the ability to use

discretion on a day to day basis.

Work Cited

1. 1. Blacks Law Dictionary thelawdictionary.org/article/police-discretion-definition

2. Types of sworn law enforcement careers

http://discoverpolicing.org/whats_like/?fa=types_careers

3. Rich Kinsey, The Ann Arbor News, Discretion is the measure of a police

officer, http://www.annarbor.com/news/discretion-is-the-measure-of-a-police-officer/

4. Rich Kinsey, The Ann Arbor News, Discretion is the measure of a police

officer, http://www.annarbor.com/news/discretion-is-the-measure-of-a-police-officer/

5. Christopher Hawks,Do police officers have to much or to little discretion.

https://www.policeone.com/investigations/articles/6878880-Do-police-officers-have-

too-much-or-too-little-discretion/

6. George L Kelling, Broken Windows and police discretion, Professor, School

of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University Research Fellow, John F. Kennedy School of

Government, Harvard University Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute, Oct 1999, Pg.38
7. George L Kelling, Broken Windows and police discretion, Professor, School

of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University Research Fellow, John F. Kennedy School of

Government, Harvard University Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute, Oct 1999, Pg.38

8. Police Officers' Decision Making and Discretion: Forming Suspicion and

Making a Stop, published by the U.S. Department of Justice, Geoffrey P. Alpert.

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