Essay On Police Discretion

CMRJ302 Week Five Forum When you begin to get into police discretion, you have to first bring up the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. Did the subject mean to do whatever the issue is? Is there intent? When I was first married years ago my wife had gotten a parking ticket in Hoke County, NC. It was one of those things that got poked away in her glove box. I had found the ticket and taken it to the Hoke County courthouse to pay it. I paid by check (that is how we used to do things.) I was working as the patrol supervisor for the MPs at Fort Bragg on midnight shift a few days later when the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office came calling. It was time for her to go to jail for failure to appear. My wife told the deputy that I had paid the ticket and this was a mistake. After seeing our young toddler son and his nearly hysterical mother (I can only imagine) the deputy decided he would give that warrant a 24 hour cushion before acting. He called the next day and told her that the check had cleared and she was good to go. In a nutshell, that is police discretion.
Some officers have difficulty with discretion with has led to some departments implementing control measures. Some
As a patrolman, I never knew what was going to happen until I approached the operator of the vehicle. If I had initiated a traffic stop for a minor infraction (let’s say failure to obey a traffic control device at night on a deserted road). On approach, if the driver kept his hands in plain sight, was somewhat courteous, and had all of his documents, chances are I would let him go. If the subject acted as if they didn’t want to stop or cursed at me, they were going to receive a citation. I have had several friends in civilian law enforcement that tell me if they have to turn on their overhead lights, the driver is getting a citation. That would definitely be a way to take any concern about the fairness of the officer out of the