Unit 8: Law, Courts, and Procedure

Police Discretion

Discretion is the ability to act or decide a matter on one’s own, consistent with law and departmental policy. Police are granted discretion because no set of laws and regulations can prescribe what to do in every possible circumstance. The possibilities are too numerous to have rules for everything that may happen. Police departments also use discretion when they decide to write policies for some areas and not others.

Police officers make thousands of discretionary decisions each day such as overlooking minor or inconsequential violations.

Discretion must be allowed because the law over-reaches, that is it does not state exceptions that might arise. When does an argument become disorderly conduct? Also, there are occasions when the law might amply be served by “not” enforcing it. Finally, a subject’s behavior (apart from the precipitating criminal conduct) will enter into the officer’s decision to arrest. What if a person lies to avoid a ticket? Should the officer have the discretion to change his/her mind and issue the ticket because of the citizen’s untruthfulness?