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Roles and responsibilities of a police
Roles and responsibilities of a police
Roles and responsibilities of a police
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Control of Police Discretion Being a police officer comes with an immense amount of responsibility. Officers play a very important role that encompasses duties concerning the enforcement of laws, keeping order, and preventing crime. Through these obligations officers have to continually interact with the community and are expected to respond to all situations that may arise while on duty. When officers carry out these responsibilities, individuals expect them to have morals, values, and principles when making decisions regarding the enforcement of the laws. The environment is constantly changing which influences the conduct of individuals and how officers will respond to that behavior (Gaines & Kappeler, 2015). Police officers are considered …show more content…
In most situations, officers have to make instant decisions which allows for the use of discretion. Police discretion is defined as an official action taken by an officer in which they use their own judgment to make the best possible decision. Police are trusted and granted a great deal of discretion when doing their job (Abdullah & Wells, 2011). Discretion is an unavoidable part of the job that encompasses many facets of policing, which is used at all levels within the agency. Although, police discretion is absolutely necessary it comes with great potential for abuse. Officers are given a freedom and flexibility to enforce a great deal of circumstances that are not always clearly defined by the law. If police discretion is not somehow controlled then it can create great difficulties for officers, departments, and civilians. These difficulties that can arise regarding discretion, requires an understanding of specific control mechanisms that are designed to …show more content…
If an officer fails to report any kind of abuse by another officer, then they will be held accountable and disciplined. There should also be proper protection put in place for the reporting officer so there is no form of retaliation taken (Gaines & Kappeler, 2015). Only delivering rules of these policies is not enough, officers must be trained and provided guided mechanisms to guarantee that these policies are applied properly. Officers should receive some type of training regarding procedures as soon as they begin the academy, but this training should be consistently reexamined to truly ensure that these rules are understood and must be
As stated in the textbook, police often have to make decisions on their own, with only their moral compass to guide them. Most ethical dilemmas that police officers face derive from their powers of discretion. Moral dilemmas that police officers face are often frequent and unavoidable. They are often unpopular with many people, resolved quickly, and are often dealt with alone.
"Proper use of discretion is probably the most important measure of a police officer or department." -- Rich Kinsey (retired police detective)
The degree of force that officers use is heavily influenced by police discretion in real-world situations rather than espoused by a certain agenda. Discretion can be classified into four different categories where administrators, the community, and the individual police officer exercise differing degrees of influence in decision-making. What is needed to help officer discretion is a central ethos that will guide discretion when all other rules fail to help.
Officers are able to use discretion in many situations that their morals would guide them in. They have the right to pull a person over with probable cause or a violation and they can choose whether to give them a ticket, a warning, or nothing, depending on the situation.
There is no uniform procedure for every situation that a police would need to use their discretion in, making inconsistency a disadvantage of police discretion. Every officer-offender situation will vary from officer
Police discretionary practices vary from officer to officer and every officer is differently trained by departments. Without the proper use of discretion out on the field, police officers are left open for legal suit actions however, if the officers are trained and exercising the use of discretion in a good manner, each individual officer can be held accountable. The second disadvantage of use of police discretion is that it allows the police officers to have too much power on making decisions which can affect the life, safety or liberty of an individual (Bargen, 2005). Police discretion presents a clear danger to society because the average officer can make a poor decision and affect the life of a person or persons. If discretion in law enforcement is used in a wrongful manner, it has great potential for being abused out of the field. Discretion allows police officers to “perform a duty or refrain from taking action” (Gaines & Kappeler, 2003, p. 251). Police officers are supposed to enforce equality under the law, people in society all should have equal rights and should be treated the same. However, discretion allows police officers to misuse it by treating offenders of different genders, race, class, ethnicity, religion, age and more inappropriately (Pepinsky, 1984). Law enforcement officers are
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
This leaves us to say, before one can judge an officer it is important to know the role, their responsibilities, the facts, not opinion of others or propaganda. This is just the prove how mass media portrays a negative role in today society and not helping this society to better than what it
Police agencies put many policies and regulations in place to make sure that their officers are safe on the streets and that everything is done correctly to avoid dangerous or legally troublesome situations. These policies are made by the highest ranking officers in the department. A system known as the “chain of command” was instituted to ensure that all policies are followed in the department and to allow officers to focus on their individual responsibilities. The Chain of command is a series of administrative or military ranks, positions, etc., in which each has direct authority over the one immediately below (dictionary.com). With each new rank comes new responsibilities and duties that must be done. Each rank has direct responsibility for the ranking officers below them. This allows for a more structured and disciplined department. Lower ranking officers can bring smaller issues to a superior such as a sergeant instead of going directly to the chief, allowing the chief to focus on bigger things in the dep...
Thesis Statement: police discretion is the framework for promoting justice in police-citizen interactions in the traffic sector. Police officers face a myriad of challenges in their line of duty. Most cases necessitate sound decisions to settle disputes amicably. When they apply discretion in an incoherent manner, they may end up abusing human rights. Therefore, they apply it when dealing with legal sanctions such as making arrests, giving out a ticket and stopping the offending party.
...d procedures that help regulate an officer’s conduct. While these are a good base point for how an officer should act, a lot of times these regulations can be very detailed or too general. This is where ethical training comes in to
There are many controversial issues related to policing. One that sticks out is police discretion. Police Discretion is the exercise of individual choices or judgments that police officers have concerning possible courses of action (Cox, p. 227). Saying that police discretion needs to be abolished is an unrealistic goal, but better supervision of patrol officers and better department policies and procedures on the use of discretion is something that we can try to achieve. Police discretion is usually more seen in minor crimes (Ross, p. 98).
Citizens expect law enforcement to protect and serve the community, but citizens often times do not have a clear understanding of the realities of police work. This can result in the publics misconception of police procedures and conflict can arise. Many police officers are sensitive to the way communities see things when performing their duties. They understand that communities’ needs are just as important as dealing with criminal behaviors, and in order to get the job done, and be effective, police officers must exercise broad discretion in terms of deciding whether to make arrests in situations where the evidence of a criminal violation may exist, as contrasted to borderline situations that might merit a verbal reprimand or social intervention (Young,2011).
In summary, police discretion appears to be a double- edged sword. It can be used for good or bad. It’s not as simple as it being right or wrong. Certainly if the sources of discretion included individual police officer prejudice, whim or caprice, this would be completely wrong, but there are other more important causes of discretion, as we have discussed.
Police decisions can affect life, liberty, and property, and as guardians of the interests of the public, police must maintain high standards of integrity. Police discretion concerning how to act in a given situation can often lead to ethical misconduct (Banks 29).