The Importance Of Police Discretion

“Anyone attempting to construct a workable definition of the police role will typically come away with old images shattered and a newfound appreciation for the intricacies of police work” (Dempsy) Police officers are faced each day with a vast array of situations with which they must deal. No two situations they encounter are ever the same, even when examines a large number of situations over an extended period of time. The officers are usually in the position of having to make decisions on how to handle a specific matter alone, or with little additional advice and without immediate supervision. A police officer is role that cannot be taken lightly. To be a police officer one must have emotional strength. A police officer must learn discretion and then learn to exercise discretion in the proper way. “Police discretion is a vague term that has an appropriately vague definition. It is defined as 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.” (Law Dictionary) If a police officer exercises force or gives a ticket that someone does not believe they
deserve he is an awful and inconsiderate person. If a police officer let the bad guy get away or doesn’t solve someone’s problem the way they want it solved then the officer is lazy and also inconsiderate. To be a police officer you must learn discretion inside and out. You must be able to exercise it every day at every traffic stop and every time you come in contact with a possible suspect in a crime.
As society changes the tactics and attitudes of police officers must change.
How does a cop determine how much discretion to use when he comes in contact with a civilian? There are many key factors that can contribute to the amount of force and discretion the cop can use. A police officer is taught to only increase the amount of force he or she can use when the suspect starts to increase their reactions to towards the officer or another person. If a suspect throws a punch at a police officer then the officer should be allowed to detain the suspect. However if this one punch turns into a full fight then lines have to be drawn. Yes the officer can use force to take the suspect down, but when must he stop using force? A police officer must be ready to burst become civil to the person that just punched
him.
Discretion is used every day in police work. A traffic stop for example is one of the main times a police officer exercises discretion. A police officers empathy, ethics and personality all contribute to discretion. A police officer pulls a car over for speeding, as he approaches the driver he realizes that it is a women who appears to have been crying and is very distraught about something. The women then tells the officer that she just found out her husband was in an auto accident and is being taken to the hospital. This is a prime example of where discretion come into play. The officer could write the women a ticket because she was indeed speeding over the posted speed limit which is against the law. Or the officer could let her off with a warning since there is an external circumstance that contributed to her exceeding the speed limit. It is a police officer’s job to enforce the laws, however morality and empathy would take over in this situation.
While officers do exercise discretion every day, it is the moments when they do not exercise discretion that are noticed more often. Discretion is not necessarily a bad thing whether talking about everyday people or police but it can become an issue when police fail to do their job and don't presume innocence before guilt, meaning that by automatically assuming guilt before innocence a police officer is using negative discretion and in fact could end up leading to a tort case against the state, much like Tennessee V. Garner which is a land mark case that brought forth the fleeing felon rule. “When a law enforcement officer is pursuing a fleeing suspect, he or she may not use deadly force to prevent escape unless "the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others."(Case Law) In this case discretion was not used properly. The officer acted without thoroughly thinking through the consequences. A police officer is the only officials besides the military that are given the authority to take a life without a proper trial. However in order for an officer to do this he or she must be threatened with losing their life or losing the life of others. In Tennessee V. Garner there was no threat on the officer’s life or any others around him. So the shooting of the young man was not justified. Ultimately police discretion is left up to the police officer. Discretion is something that is decided by oneself. With extensive training and screening of individuals we will be able to filter out the cops that cannot properly use discretion and find the cops that will exercise discretion effectively in order to restore safety and trust within the community.