Police Discretion and Decision Making

• Discretion

  A patrol officer who is faced with the need to decide and who chooses between different options.

  • An essential component to policing because no set of laws or regulations can prescribe what a police officer must do in each circumstances.
• What is one situation where a police officer's discretion is constrained? Describe why.

  One situation where a police officer's discretion is constrained is in cases of domestic violence. There are "mandatory charge" or zero tolerance policies that require police officers to arrest the suspect in cases where there is evidence that an assault has occurred, even if the alleged victim does not want an arrest to be made.