Larry Wells

When a person begins his or her ride home from work, they must decide which route they will they will take. If they take the highway, there is a possibility they will arrive sooner because they are able to drive at a higher speed. However, if the highway is congested, it will take them longer to reach their destination. Therefore, they consider taking an alternative route that will allow them to arrive at their destination sooner. In order to decide which route he or she desired to take, they had to utilize their discretion. When a person exercises discretion, they are selecting one choice from a variety of options. We continuously use discretion in our everyday lives, often times without even realizing it. Perhaps, we are so oblivious to the ways in which we use discretion because most times there are little to no consequences. Police, however, exercise an extensive amount of discretion that can result in dire consequences if the wrong decision is made. On a typical tour, an officer will use discretion under many circumstances, such as questioning, making arrests, using physical and/or deadly force, investigating a crime or taking a report on a crime. Discretion varies from officer to officer because of each unique circumstance. Thus, there are several major factors that influence when and how an officer may use their discretion. For example, the seriousness of a crime affects the amount of discretion an officer can use. They have little discretion with a suspect in a murder investigation than they do with a person stopped for ignoring a traffic signal. Relationships between police and the victim or criminal also influence the officer’s discretion. Police are more likely to be lenient with their discretion towards a person who i...

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...t. The next steps consist of a physical agility test, psychological evaluation, drug test, polygraph examination, and personal interview or series of interviews.

A person who believes what they see in action movies or television crime shows may be under the false impression that police officers are involved in scandalous corruption, or engage in daily gunfights and high-speed vehicle pursuits which lead to an officer chasing the suspect on the roof-tops of soaring skyscrapers. Indeed, police officers spend a portion of their time in the crime-fighting role. However, the amount of time they spend fighting crime is only a small percentage compared to the amount of time they spend providing social service functions and performing administrative duties. According to research and academic studies, police spend most of their time maintaining order and providing services.