Police Discretion Essay

1461 Words3 Pages

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. Miller, Blackler and Alexandra (2006) state "police are specialized role players who preserve order and enforce the law" (p. 11). Sometimes, vagueness results when communities fail to engage in a consensus to streamline the issues that constitute criminal …show more content…

The privacy creates a circumstance that allows police officers’ discretion in the way they react and handle citizens that breach the law. The research community tries to investigate the issues that concern the police officers' conduct while responding to citizen's woes and their interaction with them. The gap that exists in the criminal justice is due to the poor attention that the police departments receive from the public and other bodies. This is especially due to suspicion over their activities once they stop a …show more content…

Cases of police officers using excessive force and violating human rights are quite common in cases where the problem goes beyond the constitutional provisions. The practice helps the entire police department to support community goals due to the environment's needs that require rapid response. When they enforce discretion properly, they respond to margin situations in the best way possible. “However, if they fail to control it, they may infringe the constitutional provisions. Dempsey and Forst (2013) state "one of the ways of controlling discretion, particularly the improper application of discretion is through the establishment of employee early warning systems" (49). Proper discretion is a sure way of restoring sanity in the traffic system owing to its accrued

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