Jacob Stauffeneker SECTION B: COMMUNICATION CRJS 4480-90 Police and Community Relations. How do you define communication without using a dictionary? Sharing or exchanging information with someone to get information across. What is your strongest form of communication? Why do you need to be a member? Interpersonal Communication is my strongest form. I enjoy building relationships with people and conversing in a way that allows me to learn about other people and their desires and goals in life. Erik Fritsvold, PhD, a professor at San Diego University states “For police and law enforcement professionals, having the interpersonal skills necessary to effectively communicate with fellow officers, subordinates, higher-ups, community members, victims …show more content…
Why is there an important difference? The dictionary definition is “individual choice or judgment”. The difference in police discretion versus generic definition is that police discretion is bound by law and the policy put in place by the individual agency. Why is discretion important in the police role? Police officers are not able to enforce every violation that is applicable by law because front line resources are limited and need to be used selectively. For example, if officers pulled every person over for going 1 mph over then they would be tied up to be able to respond to say a more serious crime (assault, DWI etc..) List arguments for and against the use of discretion by law enforcement officers. One example to argue for discretion is: Imagine if cops pulled over every person for going 1mph over the speed limit, while they are pulling over these people for minor violations, they are not able to patrol the streets to look for more major crimes that are a bigger threat to the community. A negative of discretion is that some police officers may use it unethically. For example, a police officer decides to give tickets out to only people of a certain ethnic group, and his reasoning for doing so is that he can use his “discretion” and write tickets to whoever he chooses. Create a department …show more content…
Pros: It can help provide diversity, it helps eliminate stereotypes, it can help reduce socioeconomic differences. Cons: Some believe it reverses discrimination, it lowers the job standards, it lessens the feeling of achievement for the minority group. Do you feel that there should be an end-date for affirmative action policies, considering that they have been in effect for the past sixty years? Defend your answer to the question. List the pros and cons of maintaining current affirmative action policies. I believe that there should be an end date for affirmative action policies. I believe that the world is not the same as it was 60 years ago and is more accepting of minority groups. Diversity in the workplace is extremely important and I think within LE it is a vital aspect. What I do not agree with is having lower requirements just because someone is part of a minority group. Requirements for a position should be kept the same for everyone, no matter the race. As an employer, how would you respond to an applicant who has complained that, while having higher test scores, another candidate was hired due to affirmative action? I would explain that test scores are not the sole factor in the decision, there are other areas that the other applicant may have scored higher in. Describe the benefits of having a diverse workforce. The more diverse an agency is, the better it is equipped to serve the community and represent the community
In my opinion police are officers are not allowed too much discretion. Just as citizens can decide to obey the laws or not, police agencies and their officers can decide which offenses to actively seek to control and which offenses to simply ignore, which services to provide and what level. The ability to use discretion is, indeed, a vital element of contemporary American policing. The police have so many duties to perform and such limited resources that good judgment must be exercised in when, where, and how they enforce the law. The less serious a crime is to the public, the less pressure is placed on the police for enforcement. Police discretion is frequently at the center of issues involving discrimination, racial profiling, use of force and pursuit. (Page 397-399)
Question at Issue Affirmative action was implemented with the idea and hope that America would finally become truly equal. The tension of the 1960's civil rights movement had made it very clear, that the nation's minority and female population were not receiving equal social and economic opportunity. The implementation of affirmative action was America's first honest attempt at solving a problem, it had previously chose to ignore. However, there are many people that don't see affirmative action as a positive solution to this major societal problem of racial inequality. These people feel that Affirmative action uses reverse discrimination to solve the problem of discrimination in the workplace. The Enthymeme Affirmative action uses reverse discrimination to solve the problem of discrimination because Affirmative action makes employers have to choose from the best available employee from the minorities, instead of having the possibility to choose simply the best employee. A= Affirmative action v1= uses B= reverse discrimination to solve the problem of discrimination Because A= Affirmative action v2= makes C= employers have to choose from the best available employee from the minorities, instead of having the possibility to choose the best available employee. Assumption: Anything that makes employers have to choose from the best available employee from the minorities, instead of having to simply choosing the best available employee uses reverse discrimination to solve the problem of discrimination. Assumption and Audience The assumption for this paper will appeal to employees who do not qualify for Affirmative action, as well as employers and minorities. Employees not qualifying for...
Discretion is defined by Pollock (2010) as, “having the authority to choose between two or more courses of behavior. Law enforcement professionals have a great deal of discretion regarding when to enforce the law, how to enforce it, how to handle disputes, when to use force, and so on. Every day is filled with decision-some minor, some major.” (p.198) When I look at this definition of discretion I feel that these officers are faced with many different issues when it comes to making decisions that can be viewed as fair. This is when I feel that the officer has to make ethical decisions in order to be considered fair, creating trust in the public, while making a good name for the department.
Discretion is defined as the authority to make a decision of policy and practice while having the choice between two or more possible means of handling a situation. It refers to the authority granted to a police officer that allows him to decide how best to deal with a certain situation. In policing, this includes the decision at times of when, where, how, and what laws to enforce. Every police officer has a great deal of discretion concerning when to use their authority, power, persuasion, or force. Depending on how an officer sees their duty to society will determine an officer’s discretion. By exercising discretion, a police officer can keep juveniles out of the criminal justice system or intentionally involve them in it, by implementing various methods. Two major aspects of policing are the factors that influence police discretion and the ways in which police process juveniles who come to their
...creasingly diverse labor force. The only downside of affirmative action is specifically focusing on the minority employees. They may be viewed as solely being hired as a result of affirmative action, rather than as equally as accomplished, qualified, and productive. This is demeaning to minorities because it sends them the message that they are not capable enough to be considered on their own merits. However, without the application of equal opportunity programs, minorities and women are more probable to have less access to opportunities, and will affect their goal to become successful in general because they think it will not pay off. With the use of affirmative action, it is imperative to find the appropriate method to level the playing field in order reduce the occurrence of minorities not being viewed as equally qualified when being employed at any company.
We live in an evolving and ever changing world. This does not only apply to technology but also to the jobs that have been around for hundreds of years; like police officers. A police officer is someone who whose job is to enforce laws, investigate crimes, and make arrests in order to protect the community they have sworn themselves to. The past few years have shown us several major police brutality cases that have caused communities across the nation to turn against and lose trust in their officers due to one case and the media. This is due to the fact we have weak police-community relations. At one point in time, and maybe still in some places, you could see an officer every few blocks or so and see a friendly man or woman that you could
There has been a constant dilemma between enforcing the law to the latter and/or to the spirit of the law. In an article written by Simon Bronitt and Philip Stenning, Understanding Discretion in Modern Policing, some officers believe that politicians enact laws to make symbolic statements and that they do not desire full enforcement of the laws. Age, race, income, attitude toward the officer, gender, and income status are all factors of how police respond to a situation. Police tend to exercise more discretion in misdemeanor offenses than in felonies. If the police were to follow the laws to the latter, they will be perceived to be unfair by the society and hence rejected. The other merit of police discretion is that it promotes realistic goals. In this regard, discretion takes into account the fact that the police are presented with unique situations on the ground that requires personal judgment depending on the situation.. If the cops were to follow the law to the latter, then the criminal justice system would be overwhelmed with the number of cases presented before them. Discretion can also be said to promote autonomy in the sense that the cops and the community at large are not enslaved by the written rules. They are under particular circumstances allowed to route the way for the law. Finally, the discretion promotes job satisfaction for the officers in which they are allowed to
As police administration have to look at the issue and what way to try to correct the situation. One of the ethical issues dealing with law enforcement today is when using discretion when stereotyping/profiling. There has been many discussing of police discretion. Perez and Moore (2013) stated that an officer uses of discretion is very important to the community and the justice system. If officer use of discretion is not seen as fair it can cause problems with administration and citizens. Discretion is define 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. How it looks in practice is different from situation to situation” (Hirby, nd). What have been discuss throughout the years with discretion and stereotyping/profiling is traffic
The textbook defines police discretion as the use of individual judgement, instead of formal rules, in decision making (Bohm & Haley, 2012). The use of discretion is important because patrol officers cannot be expected to make an arrest for every violation of the law they encounter. For example misdemeanor violations are generally handled differently than felony violations. Minor traffic violations may be handled differently based on the demeanor of the suspect. Patrol officers generally have the latitude to use discretion in a given situation (Bohm & Haley, 2012).
Question #1: “Please define police discretion and abuse of police power. Explain the difference(s). - Police Discretion: Police discretion is a fairly broad term used for the measurement in which an officer interprets criminal intent from a person potentially running into troubles with the Law. Police discretion is what’s referred to when talking about the process of seeking the most effective level of justice necessary to calm a dispute/situation. -
For example, different offenders may have different mental states. A person who is considered “mentally stable” and a person who has, let’s say, schizophrenia will react differently in different situations and a police interaction is no different. Police discretion allows for these differences to be considered, whereas if discretion didn't exist, both individuals would be charged the same despite their difference in mental condition (Katz and Walker). By using discretion, the police can treat these people differential so that they do not receive injustice of the police treating incompetent people the same as everybody else. Not everybody can be treated the same even though they are all under the same law which is why police discretion is important so that every individual gets treated
The citizens of the United States gives a lot of power and authority to the police as part of the social contract. So in other words, we give up some of our freedom in exchange for protection and order from the government in order to live in a greater society. This is true when we give power to the police so they can protect us. According to the book, “police discretion is the authority that police officers have to use their individual judgements concerning decisions that they must make on a daily basis” (Aberle 116). In society, police discretion is almost universally accepted so that they can make decisions based on their training, background, experience, etc. This concept exists because police will have to
Discretion is using an individual’s judgment, instead of a set of formal rules, to make decisions (Bohm, 2014.) Discretion for police officers is used because there are no list of policies and procedures that could cover every single situation that an officer could face on their everyday workday (Bohm, 2014.) The book made sure to even mention those police officers can face discretion from both a parking meter violation and the ignoring of violations of the law that they deem appropriate (Bohm, 2014.)
Community policing requires many different policing strategies that attempt to reduce crime, create relationships and involvement with various communities. One community policing strategy that is used today is crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). CPTED is a strategy used that attempts to control behavior through design. C.Ray Jeffrey defines crime prevention through environmental design as:
Police use discretion because they need to consider the criminal justice system’s “capacity to process legal violations” (Buvik, 2016, p. 772). Therefore, if a police officer is not allowed to exercise discretion, the police officer must arrest an individual who is breaking the law every time. When an officer “[lays] an information,” the next step is for the Crown to determine whether he or she will accept or reject the case (Griffiths, 2015, p. 174). While the criminal justice system “does not … respond to every breach of the law,” there will still be significantly more cases waiting to be accepted into the court (Griffiths, 2015, p. 25). This is highly inefficient because only “few cases go to trial” anyways (Griffiths, 2016, p. 25). Furthermore, as Cole notes, judges are subjected to heavy paperwork, severe time constraints, and case backlog (2015, p. 76-81). If the “paperwork for even the simplest case is voluminous,” then judges will have even a harder time keeping up than ever before (Cole, 2015, p. 76). “Without discretion the police, and indeed the whole criminal justice system, would become overwhelmed with cases, resulting in public displeasure” (McLaughlin, 2009 as quoted in McCartney, S., & Parent, R., 2015, p. 107) Thus, police officers require discretion to alleviate the criminal justice system’s