Introduction Monumental police power arrest why monumental Arrest carries negative image o Shwartz and Skolnick created 4 fictitious job seekers Likelihood of getting an interview decreased the more serious the criminal record Decisions consist of a goal alternatives and information to select course of action Police use personal discretion have choice whether or not to arrest person Full versus Selective Enforcement Full enforcement police confront and deal with every violation that comes to their attention Idea that police are not in position to agree or disagree with it only enforce it Democratic ideal but not reality Selective enforcement police do not enforce all laws all the time Police do not have infinite resources Must make sacrifices Unarticulated improvisation when police administrators fail to set specific guidelines for selective enforcement so individual officers must make their own decisions Bad because police officers do not have clear vision of organization s mandate No uniformity Reasons for Police Discretion ABA commission Wayne LaFave to conduct arrest study Studied why police choose NOT to arrest instead of vice versa Found 5 difficulties in police action inaction 1 Unclear Laws a Ambiguous b Unclear language 2 Nuisance Behavior i Example Obscenity laws community standards 1 Might be different in different parts of the state a Criminal law to control non criminal matters b Public intoxication i Officer can arrest or arrange for ride home 3 Broad Statutes 4 Moral Standards 5 Outdated Laws a Statutes written in broad and sweeping terms so no loopholes a Some statutes in certain jurisdictions prohibit fornication adultery etc b Should police arrest in this case Illegal to wash cow or pig on Sabbath a b Enforcement of these laws would cause community to get upset Defining Discretion Using common sense and using a degree of flexibility to come to a reasonable decision given their amount of power Handling Calls for Service Chain of actors operator dispatcher field unit police officer Police Operators and Dispatchers Proactive Policing officer initiates discovery and responds to the incident o Officer who sees a fight happening Reactive policing third party notifies police about situation and police respond o Reported burglary o Most police work is reactive 20 of police activity pertains to criminal matters remaining 80 spent on non criminal matters Police telephone operators Gatekeepers to the police Antunes and Scott analayzed 26 000 calls for service o Less than 20 of calls involved criminal incidents o Officer was sent in 70 of cases Usual thing to do unless there clearly no purpose to send one Officers just waiting on call not being taken away from other business If there is serious harm injury and officer is not sent serious repercussions Dispatchers must also prioritize service calls Handling Calls in the Field Officer can arrest with probable cause only in felony cases Observational Studies For misdemeanors officer must have witnessed the crime directly o Four criteria govern police action according to Sykes et al Statutory definitions departmental policy suspect demeanor towards officer whether the suspect threatens the officer s safety Controlling the Call o Four goals in mind when handling a call for service 1 The officer must gather information 2 Officer seeks behavioral order 3 Respect for the officer 4 Resolve or complete the call appropriately o Three techniques of maintaining order 1 Definitional regulation Who talks when who remains who gets to leave etc Gathering information by asking questions People must acknowledge police officer and submit to authority 2 Imperative regulation Officer issues command or order 3 Coercive regulation Uses or threatens to use force or arrest Two forms of researching when police will make arrest Field observation and Simulation presenting false situation and asking officer what he she would do if it were real situation The Arrest Decision Field Encounter Studies President s Commission Smith and Visher Simulation Studies o Strong correlation between what complainant wanted and what the officer did o More disrespectful the suspect more likely the arrest o Arrest not as likely when victim and offender knew each other Quota Expectation that officers will write a certain number of traffic tickets each month o Way to monitor police performance o Organizational impact on police arrest choices Asking police what they would do in different circumstances Gain more information in less time than field encounter studies o BUT decisions occur in sterile environment may not reflect what actually would occur Sullivan and Siegel decision Finckenauer o False scenario with many variables to see what officers found important in arrest o Most important to arrest belligerent and disrespectful attitude o Found reluctance to make arrest in victimless cases when surveying police academy o Why Recruits responded an arrest was out of line with community expectations Police Bias in the Arrest Decision Low visibility situations Racism Blacks are over represented in arrest statistics o Blacks are 12 of the population but at least 28 of arrests in every crime category o Possible Reasons Blacks are present in lower class ghetto areas lower incomes greater family instability Blacks distrust police do not help them show no respect Police have greater presence in black neighborhoods Officers are biased and racist Early Studies o Showed disproportionality people assumed blacks were treated worse than whites o Criticized for not taking into account other variables that might have affected their treatment in the justice system Later Studies o Mixed results o Some show differences because of seriousness of crime or previous record o Others show differences because of personal biases warrants being approved arrests made etc Sexism Women s crime rates are rising Possible reasons o Masculinity Thesis females are engaging in more criminal acts because they are adopting more masculine personality traits o Chivalry hypothesis when women don t act in their preconceived roles officers are more likely to arrest When a woman acts in her sex role expectation she can avoid arrest for the most part o Found females more likely to be arrested for status offenses drinking smoking etc Early Studies than males o Legal and social variables o Legal Type of offense prior arrest record gravity of offense o Social individual s race gender age o If social variables are more
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