How does the use of police discretion influence community perceptions?

How does the use of police discretion influence community perceptions?

Police have the ability to make choices everyday that can have a positive or negative impact on an individual. Discretion is the freedom to act or judge on one’s own. To me that means there are obvious rules and guidelines but you must know by use of common sense which rules are flexible and which are not. Police officers are looked at with intense scrutiny these days and must always act in a way that is a good representation of their department, community and family. Now there are certain violations that may occur such as DUI or felony speeding that may require action to be taken by the officer making contact. There are more simple “mistakes” that individuals make where the officer could find it within his or her discretion to give a warning. For an average law abiding citizen just trying to go through life and maybe was going a bit to fast on the freeway or did not realize their tags were due for renewal the officer’s decision to use discretion and go easy may really make the person’s day. In turn improving the way that individual looks at police officers. Each officer is different and may have pet peeves about certain violations, community perceptions are important because the department wants the majority of the community to be supportive.