hunter et al ., 2017 W r i t i n g

DQ1-Discretion is defined as “An exercise of individual choice or judgment. The range of choices may be limited by certain legal, administrative, or ethical bounds, or it may appear to be limitless. Discretion requires discerning or distinguishing among options” (Hunter et al., 2017, pp. 166)

Citizens can choose whether or not to report crimes, testify in court, press charges, and support the police. Citizens determine through their discretionary judgment what level of crime will be tolerated. (Hunter et al., 2017, pp. 167)

Defendants and their attorneys can choose whether or not to cooperate with others in the system, what strategies will be employed in the defense. (Hunter et al., 2017, pp. 167)

Prosecutors choose whether or not to file, what charges to bring, what bargains are reason-able, and what strategies to employ in the prosecution. (Hunter et al., 2017, pp. 167)

Judges determine legal questions, review cases and reports, and sentence offenders. (Hunter et al., 2017, pp. 167)

Corrections officials choose to a large degree what happens to the convicted offender in terms of custody and treatment so long as the offender is in their jurisdiction. (Hunter et al., 2017, pp. 167)

“Discretionary decision-making remains a contentious issue in law enforcement discussions because limited guidance is available on how to operationalize it, yet so much depends on how well it is done. Mastrofski views discretionary decision making as the leeway that officials have to choose the most appropriate way to handle a particular situation from a bouquet of legitimate options” (Snyman, 2012).

Hunter, R., Barker, T., & Guzman, D. M. (2017). Police Community Relations and the Administration of Justice (9th ed.). Pearson.

Snyman, R. (2012). DISCRETION, THE BETTER PART OF VALOUR?: Empowering traffic officials to make discretionary decisions. SA Crime Quarterly, (41), 21-27. Retrieved from login?url=https:// Discretion is used daily with decisions one makes with family or work-related matters. According to Firman, Fadillah, Machyawaty, and Sitorus (2020) “Discretion is found in almost all aspects of human life, even doing an action, or not doing an action can be categorized as discretion (paras 1-2). However, police discretion it allows the officer to effectively make sound decisions in the field when there is no clear-cut solution. Many police officers may use their discretion following the letter of the law or the spirit of the law. It all depends on the officer’s judgment and discretion to make the right call. In the eyes of the law, judges describe discretion as “acting on one’s own authority and judgment. Judges are entitled to have discretion with the legal ruling or what type of evidence is admissible or inadmissible in a courtroom. They have the circumspection to throw out evidence or any legal ruling within their jurisdiction.

Firman Fadillah, Tety Machyawaty, & Tigor Sitorus. (2020). Police discretion is a judgmental skill. Technium Social Sciences Journal, 14, 1–9.

DQ3- Upon arrival to the scene yourself and your partner must be prepared for any type of physical altercation due to the nature of the call. The call reported a couple screaming and yelling inside their respected residence. The first thing is to separate the two individuals in the attempt to prevent both from assaulting each other. From there on, both police officers can get the stories from both parties to see if they match, or who is the attacker or the one causing problems. However, if verbal persuasion does not work and the male subject continues to be aggressive, then it is best to take him into custody for criminal threats or verbal assault.

During reserve patrol, most incidents as such would end up in domestic violence. It is best to remove one of the individuals so that it will not escalate to physical harm in the absence of police. I would recommend other officers to keep safety as a priority in such cases. These cases can turn fatal very quickly, as officer should always separate each individual by keeping some type of distance between the individuals being interviewed. Ones we know who is causing strife depending on how serious it is, the officer should secure the male to prevent physical harm until the issue is sorted out.

APA style, reference after each response, 150+ words