Police Discretion

• 2 kinds of policing used today:

  Neighbourhood + reactive
• What is police discretion?


  Decision-making by police officers based on their judgment and interpretation of laws and policies.
• How do police send their data for OCS?

  43 forces in the UK keep a record of recorded crimes + every 6 months they submit this to the Home Office
• Why have more police started wearing body cams?


  Police work is low in visibility ➡️ regulating discretion is hard
• According to Reiner, what factors affect how officers police?


  1. Individual beliefs
  2. Influence of other officers
  3. Political factors
• AO2: Reiner & Skolnick

  Police have distinct occupational culture (shared norms, values + prejudices) (sometimes referred to as 'canteen culture')
• Who identified the 4 components of 'canteen culture'?

  Skolnick
• What are the 4 components of 'canteen culture'?


  1. Suspiciousness
  2. Internal solidarity
  3. Conservatism
  4. Masculinity
• Baroness Casey's independent review of the Met (following the Sarah Everard case), Feb 2022 - Mar 2023


  Concluded that Met Police Service are institutionally racist, sexist + homophobic
• How many crimes are not recorded by the police?

  20%
• 3 reasons why crimes aren’t recorded:

  1. Workload press.
  2. Inadequate management
  3. Excessive targets
• AO2: James Patrick

  • Former police officer turned whistle-blower
  • Analysed data over a year from the Met + found crimes were being downgraded to 'no-crime'
• 'Coughing'


  Convicted offenders persuaded to admit to crimes they didn’t commit in exchange for lower sentence ➡️ improves clear-up rate
• 'Cuffing'


  Crimes disappearing from OCS by downgrading them/recording as a false report
• 'Skewing'


  Focussing police attention on easy-to-solve crimes ➡️ boosts detection rates
• 'Stitching'


  Offenders charged for a crime when not enough evidence
• 2015 inquiry into the 2012 Rochdale child a. cases

  • Criticised for under/mis-recording crimes against vulnerable kids
  • Report suggested that the police should inform vics. ab. whether they record a crime or not, but they often didn't ➡️ ppl unaware that crimes weren't being investigated.
• AO2: Public Administration Committee

  In a 2014 report, stated that attitudes leading to mis-recording of crime were ingrained, even in senior leadership