Power, Authority, and Discretionary Decision Making 5an individual, give a citation, or simply release a citizen with a warning. These
decisions, however, are never cut-and-dried, and often they fail to be consistent,
An officer's decision in handling a situation depends on the offense, the back-
ground and personality of the responding officer(s), and the demographic back-
ground of the offender. This section discusses the discretionary decisionmaking
process within law enforcement, drawing on the officer's perceived or given power
and authority to make law-enforcing decisions. The following scenario is common-
place, deals with alternating forms of police discretion, and is a typical complaint of
citizens.
While driving down an interstate, you are pulled over by a police officer. The officer,
upon reaching your car, begins to discuss with you in a somewhat stern voice, the rules
and/or regulations of the road and every way in which you have violated them. To your
dismay, you are informed that you are receiving a ticket, to which you may plead "guilty"
or "not guilty," and will be required to pay a hefty fine.
The following week, you are told by a friend of yours that they too, were pulled over
just yesterday on the same interstate. However, you are surprised to discover that this
friend did not receive a ticket, and in fact was released without even a warning. Upon
further discussion, you also discover that you were clocked at the same speed and were
pulled over in the same area of interstate.
You can't help but wonder why you recived a citation and your friend did not. Was
it because you are significantly younger than your friend, or was it because you are of a
different race or sex? Aggravated, you complain to all who will listen about the lack of
fairness and consistency in traffic ticket citations.Scenarios such as these have been the subject of controversy for some time. Some
researchers have even attempted to quantify the nature of traffic stop citations in
addition to contributing and noncontributing factors in receiving a traffic citation
(Corbett & Simon, 1991; Koehler & Willis, 1994). The process behind police
decision making is discussed within this section as are the contributing factors that
enable police to discern between decisions in various circumstances.
Literature Review
A survey examining the responses of over 1000 people, including police officers,
probation officers, prosecuting attorneys, defense attorneys, judges, community
leaders, and ordinary citizens, found striking differences in police practices and
decision making. Compared to all other groups, police officers were found to be
more harsh in their treatment of curfew violators and those involved with drugs
and alcohol, prostitution, and vandalism. Further, it was discovered that decision-
making practices of police officers were found to be related to the experience of
the officer, m addition to their educational level. More specifically, the higher the
officer's education, the less harshly police officers treated offenders. Also, officers
were found to act more harshly during the early years of police service, become
more tolerant during their mid-level years, and become again more harsh toward
the end of their careers (Icove, 1994).