CJS/241 Module 4: Police Discretion in Disturbance Call Scenario

This presentation examines the critical role of police discretion in handling unfolding disturbance calls. It analyzes the potential decision points an officer faces, considering factors like misleading information, wasted time, and incorrect assessments of situations. The presentation explores the impact of societal changes and mental health concerns on police responses. It identifies key factors influencing police discretion, including mental stability, societal perceptions, and the officer's ability to manage complex situations. Furthermore, it delves into the potential reactions to prank calls and the factors that may limit an officer's discretion, such as suspect demeanor and prior records. The presentation distinguishes between abuse and positive use of discretion, highlighting the importance of tactfulness, tolerance, empathy, and foresight in police decision-making. The analysis draws on various sources and references to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and complexities inherent in police discretion.

Police Discretion in an
Unfolding Disturbance
Call

Possible decision points that the
officer may have faced
 The officer will be very disgusted and irritated regarding the prank calls
and receiving unjustified claims of problems.
 The supply of unestablished information may lead to misleading of
investigation (Hawkins, 2019).
 The investigation may become useless if it awareness the convict or the
victim.
 The police officer may be assessing the fake situation and will be
wasting their precious time (Walker & Katz, 2012).
 The assessing of the problems and the situations will be wrong
completely.

Probable Scenarios for Disturbances
Calls
 Disturbance calls is a very sensitive topic as it harms both the police
and the civilian as well.
 There are a lot of changes in the society takes place on a daily process
therefore it is impossible to asses the task in a definite time (Hine et al.,
2018).
 The police have to rely on the various modes of conduct and therefore
have to answer every civilian calls
 The person having mental illness is a vital matter where the police
needs to justify the cases as well.

Factors Affecting the Discretion of
the Police:
 There are certain factors that has violated the identity of the person
who are making the disturbance calls to the police-
 Mental Stability,
 Impact of society and the police,
 Impression of the police on the society,
 The ideas that the people of the society have regarding the functioning of the
police,
 The ability of the police to manage the society along with its problems
(Magalhães, 2018).

The probable reaction to prank calls:
 Certain factors may affect the peace and harmony of the police.
 This may lead to the arrest of the person who are making the prank or
the disturbance calls (Miller, 2017).
 Certain factors matter like-
 Harassment
 Disorderly Conduct,
 Hate Crimes,
 Wiretapping,

Police Discretion:
 There are certain factors that needs to be identified as the police faces daily
problems.
 The police often faces harassment (Wang, 2017).
 The harassment towards the police is taken to be offensive and is illegal
 The police develops a certain nature and type of outlook towards the
enhancement of the amount of disturbance or harassment that they have to
face (Farzinnia et al., 2018).
 The discretion of the police towards the development of the ideas needs to be
identified otherwise it will develop into something else.
 There are two types of ideas- modeled abuse of discretion or modeled positive
use of discretion.

Abuse of discretion
 The ideas regarding the abuse of discretion matters whether the it is
noticed or regulated by the higher authorities like the legislative
(Walker & Katz, 2012).
 It can easily be said that- "An abuse of discretion is a failure to take into
proper consideration the facts and law relating to a particular matter;
an arbitrary or unreasonable departure from precedent and settled
judicial custom” (Braun, Rosenthal & Therrian, 2018).
 Abuse of Discretion is like a standard or like a certain review, that
requires an appellate court.

Positive of Discretion:
 A form of judgment is given by the police,
 Police discretion deals with the making of the personal contributions (Wang,
2017).
 It highlights that police discretions are sometimes taken as soft decisions.
 Its demonstrates certain aspects like-
 tactfulness,
 tolerance,
 empathy,
 prudence and
 foresight

Factors that may limit the officer’s
discretion
 There are various factors that can affect the police officer’s discretion,
some are-
 Demeanor of the Suspects,
 Record of the Suspects,
 Various types of Complaints,
 Parent’s Attitude (Miller, 2017),
 Variability within a system.

References
 Braun, M., Rosenthal, J., & Therrian, K. (2018). Police discretion and racial disparity in organized
retail theft arrests: evidence from Texas. Journal of empirical legal studies, 15(4), 916-950.
 Farzinnia, B., Khankeh, H., Khorasani-Zavareh, D., Amiri, M., & Ardalan, A. (2018). Mutual
Influence between Dispatchers and Callers: Experience and Perception of Iranian Service
Providers. Journal of Clinical & Diagnostic Research, 12(6).
 Hawkins, D. (2019). Abuse of Discretion Other Acts Evidence. Wisconsin Law Journal.
 Hine, K. A., Porter, L. E., Westera, N. J., & Alpert, G. P. (2018). Too much or too little? Individual
and situational predictors of police force relative to suspect resistance. Policing and
society, 28(5), 587-604.
 Magalhães, B. (2018). Obviously without foundation: Discretion and the identification of clearly
abusive asylum applicants. Security Dialogue, 49(5), 382-399.
 Miller, D. C. (2017). Abuse of Discretion and the Sliding Scale of Deference: Restoring the
Balance of Power between Circuit Courts and District Courts for Rule 23 Class Certification
Decisions in Oil and Gas Royalty Litigation. Iowa L. Rev., 103, 1811.
 Wang, C. (2017). Discretion, Cognition and Embodiment in Process: Days and Nights With 911
Dispatchers (Doctoral dissertation).
 Walker, S., & Katz, C. M. (2012). Police in America. McGraw-Hill.

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