Should Police Officers Exercise Discretion
Submitted by Matthew Dalton
Salt Lake Community College
Criminal Justice 1010-049
4/15/2014
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In America today with the overpopulation and high costs of maintaining jails and
prisons, there are huge limitations on how many people can be locked up at any given time. It’s
no wonder police try to exercise discretion in their daily jobs. It would make more sense to
arrest the suspect that committed a violent crime, than the suspect that shoplifted at the local
convenience store.
Police discretion is a double-edged sword. There are huge disadvantages and
advantages to take into consideration on this subject. One disadvantage is the possibility of
corruption to flourish. When police officers are essentially the judge, jury, and even in some
cases executioner. It creates a lot of power for these men and woman in the criminal justice
profession. Police officers also have a lot of freedom because of minimal supervision. They are
expected to be self-driven and honest in their daily job tasks. With the average police officers
salary being $57,770 a year (www.access2knowledge.org/jobs-education/how-much-do-policeofficers-make/) sometimes accepting bribes or other incentives can help influence a police
officer’s opinion on corruption, finding themselves in moral dilemmas on what they should do.
Another problem that is associated with police discretion is prejudice. Every day officers
come in contact with individuals from other cultural backgrounds, socioeconomic classes,
religions, sexual orientations, and physical and mental abilities. One way police departments
have remedied this has been to add woman and other people from a variety of ethnic
backgrounds, as well as other minority groups to their ranks. Diversity is important in policing
because it’s crucial in reducing crime levels by establishing relationships between law
enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Police officers develop their moral
compass, character, or ethical base, from interacting with other individuals and studying ethics.
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When it comes to ethical issues associated with discretion in police work, it all depends
on the individual. One would hope with the training, schooling, and experience on the job that
police officers receive. That she or he would use sound judgment in their daily job duties.
This is where loyalty and ethics come into play. A police officer can still be honest and
make a decision not to take someone to jail for an incident that is technically breaking the law,
but believes is an insignificant incident not worth overcrowding jails. Discretion is a necessary
task that is essential to help minimize the overpopulation of jails, prisons, courts, and
community based correctional facilities. With more than 2.3 million people locked up in the
United States, the states and federal government spends $74 billion a year on corrections.
(www.cnbc.com/id/44762286) It is essential that discretion is exercised in an honest and
professional manner. Police officers receive a vast amount of training and education before and
during their career that can help them determine if a situation is in need of more extensive
intervening. I’m not saying that police officers should look the other way in most instances. I
just think if a person isn’t a risk for violence to themselves or others, police officers should
evaluate whether or not the situation is worth using their valuable time and energy.
For instance if a police officer is called to a situation where a citizen called the cops
reporting a loud argument in an adjacent apartment, and said that they suspected domestic
violence. The arriving police officer to the residence should take notice on how the people are
acting, and make sure there is no sign of domestic violence. Say there is a smashed music cd on
the ground because one of the suspects admitted to not liking the music, and didn’t want the
music played at top volume anymore. So the suspect decided that their only option was to
break the music cd out of rage, but quickly apologized and the two people came to a mutual
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agreement about the replacement of the music cd. I think that the officer should exercise
discretion, and should make his or her best educated decision about letting the issue slide.
Instead of arresting one of the suspects for assault and continuing the cycle of overcrowding
the judicial system. The officer should just explain to them the harsh reality of what would
happen to them if they got arrested for assault. How it could affect their future career plans
and possibly custody rights if they have children. Then inform them that if they continue in this
manner that the police officer will have no option but to arrest one or both of them.
Another instance I think police officers should exercise discretion is if a suspect is
caught stealing a candy bar from a convenience store. I believe that the police officer should
give the perpetrator the option to apologize for the act, and to pay for the candy bar. I think
that people would learn to respect officers and treat them with more dignity since they would
see them on more of a personal level and not assume the officer was out to make their lives
miserable.
Most people make one off minor offenses that they later regret, I don’t believe they
should have to suffer from repercussions from the incident for the rest of their lives. If
someone gets arrested for an incident after making a minor offense it could cause dire effects
on their lives. Making it hard for them to find or even keep a job. Sometimes making it
impossible to make an honest living. This could result in people going back to crime just to
make ends meet.
In conclusion I think that there is a proper time and place for discretion to be
exercised in police work. Without discretion the judicial system would be even more
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overcrowded than it already is. Making it even more difficult to keep the criminals that should
be locked up, kept out of society. I don’t think there is an easy answer to this dilemma. Every
day police officers have to make ethical and moral decisions as part of their jobs. Officers of the
law will likely be faced with the decision of this nature repeatedly throughout their career. In
most cases the decisions an officer makes will make or break them as officers of the law and
will either strengthen or weaken their ethical values. Fortunately over the past several years,
the job of policing has become more professionalized and requirement to hold the job as a
police officers have been increased. Special attention is also being placed in the area of ethics
training and this is resulting in the majority of officers getting some form of this training
throughout their career. The results of these efforts unfortunately have not been able to weed
out all of the bad apples in the field, but these steps have served to make the officers on the
streets more aware of the issue of morals and ethics. This training as shown to be very valuable
to the officer, the department and the community the police have sworn to protect.
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Citations
Matthies, Carl F., Kristen M. Keller, and Nelson Lim. Identifying Barriers to Diversity in Law
Enforcement Agencies. Rand. 2012. PDF.
Gleason, Tag. "Ethics Training for Police." Policechiefmagazine.or. 11 Nov. 2006. Seattle Police
Department. 15 Mar. 2014
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display_arch%26article_id%3D1054%26issue_id%3D112006>.
Hunter, Kevin. "Lowering the Bar." Kevinhunterlaw.com. 22 July 2011. 29 Mar. 2014
<http%3A%2F%2Fkevinhunterlaw.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F07%2Fpolice-discretion-good-badand-ugly.html>.
"How Much Do Police Officers Make?" Http://www.access2knowledge.org. 13 Oct. 2013. 29
Mar. 2014 <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.access2knowledge.org%2Fjobs-education%2Fhow-much-dopolice-officers-make%2F>.
Viverette, Mary. "President’s Message: Diversity on the Force."
Http://www.policechiefmagazine.org. 12 Dec. 2005. 29 Mar. 2014
<http%3A%2F%2Fwww.policechiefmagazine.org%2Fmagazine%2Findex.cfm%3Ffuseaction%3D
display_arch%26article_id%3D755%26issue_id%3D122005>.
"Billions behind bars inside Americas prison industry." Http://www.cnbc.com. 29 Mar. 2014
<http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2Fid%2F44762286>.
Gaines, Larry K., and Robert L. Miller. Criminal Justice in Action. 7th ed. Cengage Learning, 2013.