The Police And Corruption

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different aspects in which police are
capable of exceeding the parameters of their power and authority: police and
use of discretionary enforcement, “Police justice”, police harassment, and the
unwarranted use of police authority.
Police are allowed to and must use personal discretion in their
determination of law enforcement. Unlike a judge or lawyer a police officer can
not gather information and take time to make a prognosis to make a decision
affecting the fate of a person. He must make a quick decision based on his
discretion to determine the fate of a person.. “...a quick decision is required
to protect the interests of the public and to satisfy requirements of operating
efficiency” (Reiss, p.130) Now we are telling officer to not enforce the law,
but to determine the law.
A policeman's discretionary decision may then be evaluated by others
both inside and outside of the department. This is the cause for a further
complication in the processes because in order ...

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and judges. They are treated as less of a
professional. To see a person who in the officer's discretion was guilty be
released time after time, it is difficult for the officer to keep his commitment
to the system. “Where moral commitment is lost, subcultural practices take over.
One such practice that exacerbates the relationship of the police with the
public is harassment” (Reiss, p.138) Therefore police create their own
subcultural practices which include harassment.
Author Albert J. Reiss offers an alternative explanation to why some
citizens feel they have been harassed. He states that citizens do not call upon
the police for things that they feel the police will not ...

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