What is police discretion? How does the practice of discretion by today's officers affect their departments and the policing profession as a whole?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Police discretions is the opportunity that individual law enforcement officers have for the exercise of choice in their daily activities. Studies of police discretion have found a wide variety of factors that influence the discretionary decisions made by police officers. These include:
• Personal practices of the officer
• Pressure from victims
• Community interest
• Background of the officer
• Characteristics of the subject
• Department policy
• Disagreements with the law
• Available alternatives

The broad use of discretion by police officers is necessary because agencies may receive too many calls for service and need flexibility in response. Additionally, there is not always sufficient evidence in certain criminal acts to ensure a conviction, and the officer might need to somehow resolve the matter without making an arrest.
One way to limit discretion is to have a policy and procedure manual with specific guidelines on how to handle specific events that might arise. The official department policy and procedure manual serves to control officer discretion by placing limitations on the exercise of choice; thus, officers are trained to respond according to departmental procedure.