Each time a police officer chooses to make an arrest, they demonstrate whether or not they practice the proper discretion that their career field expects of them. For the particular case involving Ken Krook, a young man who had attempted to rob a liquor store, while holding the store clerk at gun point. While Ken fled the scene, a responding officer had been notified on behalf of the specific crime that had taken place following a veg description of the individual. After noticing an individual who seemed to fit the description of Ken Kook, the officer ran after the criminal, eventually making an arrest. This case brings up the issue involving what is and is not a proper use of discretion, and whether the arrest of Ken Krook was done lawfully.…
possibility that the judgment of police might be impaired in the execution of their duties; •…
The central issue in the case study would be the authority of the police officers to use excessive force as well as to engage in violent pursuits. Due to a previous incident of a violent pursuit ending with the death of a 14 year old teenager, the Pineville County Sheriff’s Department is currently facing a lawsuit. As such, the Department has implemented stricter rules and regulations to prevent such accidents from happening again. However, another key issue which has cropped up would be that of the behavior of Deputy Raymond Ray Ripley who has been observed to be overstepping regulations as well as engaging in activities that are not part of his…
The criminal justice system of the United States remains influenced because of probable cause, police discretion, and judicial discretion concerning criminal misconduct. This material reviews the history of policing, and the court system. This examination analyzes probable cause, police discretion, and how these components influence law enforcement and the courts. Additionally, this assessment reviews the influence for law enforcement, studies police operations, and observes various decision-making processes. Furthermore, this investigation scrutinizes the judicial discretion process, reviews different influences for the courts, reviews diverse court operations, and examines other decision-making processes.…
Police discretion allows officer the power to make decision to purse police procedure or to simply give a warning and let someone go. An example of police discretion would be if an officer pulls over a teenage driver for running a stop sign. Once the officer approaches the care he notices a roach “end of a joint” in the passenger seat. The officer then has the option to either let the teen slide with just a warning or to follow police procedure word for word. In my opinion police discretion is beneficial. Giving someone a warning allows you to explain what could happen to him or her if caught next time. If every person who broke the law or did something wrong was arrested or charged our jails would be packed and officer would have stacks of…
In our text, discretion is defined as having to decide between two or more courses of action or behavior. Discretion is practiced in all aspects of the criminal justice system, police, corrections, judges and attorneys all have the power and capabilities to exercise discretion. An example of police discretion is a police officer responding to a domestic violence call, the officer can analyze the situation and decide to arrest one or both parties or, attempt to provide them the resources to get help or give a warning. An example of a correctional officer using discretion is, if the correctional officer witnesses an inmate breaking a law or code of the facility and can make the decision to do nothing or follow procedure. Another example of discretion…
Discretion means the police officer has a choice. For example, a police officer pulls you over for a minor traffic violation like not stopping at a stop sign he has a choice of whether to give you a ticket or a warning whether it be written or verbal. This action would be called discretion. The practice of discretion today reflects police by restricting them to not have discretion in all circumstances. Laws and department policy can limit or eliminate discretion. For example, if an officer witnesses a felony, law requires the officer arrest the suspect. And, department policy might require an officer issue citations for all seat belt violations.…
An officer may choose to write a warning, make an arrest, or just let it pass; this is a huge part of what a police officer must learn to do. A few factors involved in this decision making process range from crime factors, victim factors, environmental factors, departmental factors, and peer factors. Other factors that can attribute to the decision making process are the suspects behavior, or the officer characteristics. The views of one officer related to crime may vary widely from that of another officer, allowing for a different response depending on the responding officers. While some may view a kid smoking a joint as just a nuisance and confiscate the drugs, others will actually see this as a more serious offense, leading to an arrest, or a citation being served to the individual. Who the victim is plays a role also, such as in domestic violence. While the victims are known associates, or relatives/family, the officers tend to use more discretion on making an arrest, and when trying to deescalate the situation, whereas if the incident involves complete strangers, the event tends to be taking more…
When enforcing the law, for police officers not two situations they encounter are ever the same, even when examine 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. In many cases, officer’s discretion extends to interpreting the meaning of the statutory text. It becomes, therefore, impossible to enforce the law equally due to the wide interpretation that can be a particular law. This is the heart of police discretion.…
There have been ongoing debates about the guidelines for police officers when conducting discretionary searches. One police department that has been in the headlines for its practices of discretionary searches have been the New York City’s Police Department. New York City’s Stop and frisk policy allowed police officers to stop and search an individual on the street at their discretion based on suspicion of criminal activity. One of the most highly publicized cases of NYPD’s stop and frisk tactic was the 2014 death of Eric Garner in the hands of Staten Island Police Department. The Eric Garner’s case followed outpours from citizens calling for change in NYPD’s stop and frisk guidelines and other police departments as well. This week’s article…
Discretion gives police officers the ability to handle crime and punishment as it is seen fit. It is not compulsory that police officers enforce the law equally in every situation. Circumstances may vary amid different situations. The following scenarios can be taken into consideration. If a husband rushes to the hospital to be in time when his child is born and in the act he runs through a stop sign, police discretion may be used to dismiss the husband with a warning. In a case of assault betwixt two teenage boys, if one beats the other in self-defense, he can avoid punishment if no weapons were used on his part.…
Police officers have a large amount of discretion. This stage of the crime is the most influential to a case. What a police officer decides to charge an individual for and whether or not they charge them at all can completely affect how a case is carried out. For example, let’s say that and individual was going 10 miles per hour over the speed limit and a police officer pulled them over for it. The individual breaking the law was speeding because a loved one was in the hospital. It is now the officer’s decision to either hold this person responsible and give them a ticket or let them off with a warning because of the…
Many questions can arise when dealing with law enforcement issues. This paper looks to scratch the surface on four of these questions. These questions were answer with my own personal opinions and won’t be found anywhere else but here.…
Police discretion is the ability to choose a course of action because of broad limits of power. It "refers to the autonomy an officer has in choosing an appropriate course of action" (The Police In America, 113). It "includes authority to decide which of the various means of helping the helpless, maintaining order, and keeping the peace are best suited to particular circumstances" (www.worldandi.com/specialreport/1989/january/Sa15878.htm). The police need to have discretion since it is impossible to record everything on what they are supposed to do and not do. We can also understand that if you could record all the rules and regulations it would be too extensive for an individual to comprehend.…
people. The police is a government service to all people, but all people do not…