Discretionary Behavior in Police Departments: An Analysis

In 2011 assistant professor in the department of political science at Western Illinois University, Casey LaFrance, wrote an article in the International Journal of Police Science & Management regarding discretion among the levels of authority within police departments. He sees that communication in the organizations hierarchy leads to similarities in their discretionary behavior. LaFrance determines from previous research that there are nine influences that affect why and how officers utilize their discretion. These factors include personal values, community norms, peer group norms and the informal organization, departmental standard operating procedures, legal liability, expectations from accreditation bodies, expectations from various professional

LaFrance then discusses Dworkin model. Developed in 1977, the Dworkin model relied on only one ring of constraint in correlation to discretionary decisions. While the simplicity of his model is easier to understand, it groups each of the nine constraints into one cognitive ring. He further analyses that the Dworkin’s model does not have the differentiation or depth of information for each constraint to examine for the purpose of comparison or workers rank. LaFrance proposes model that will provide more depth to the understanding of discretion by extending the role of each

As well as, the benefits to his visual model are easily perceived and shown to be effective through his research. LaFrance additionally supports his proposal by analyzing and recognizing the flaws to his department specific findings. Particularly, I perceived his research and findings to have an objective view and his background as an assistant professor of political science gives him a qualified understanding and background to conduct this