Deck 5: The Police Role and Police Discretion

Question 1

Explain the police role in society.

Answer 1

The police role in the United States is unique in that it is not limited to specifically defined tasks. First, police act as crime fighters. Many police officers emphasize their role as crime fighters. According to the UCR, nationwide the police make somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 million arrests annually for criminal infractions, excluding traffic violations. From the analyses of arrests made by police, one can see that the vast majority of the arrests are not serious Index crimes but, rather, crimes of disorder or actions that annoy citizens and negatively affect their quality of life. The vast majority of crime fighting by police is related to order maintenance rather than serious crime. Police serve not only as crime fighters but also as problem solvers. Police officers act as emergency responders, social workers, and city ambassadors. The police role is very ambiguous and extremely diverse.

Question 2

What are the goals of policing?

Answer 2

The two primary goals of policing are maintaining order and protecting life and property. In addition to these primary goals, the police also have secondary goals or objectives, which include preventing crime, arresting and prosecuting offenders, recovering stolen and/or missing property, assisting the sick and injured, enforcing noncriminal regulations, and delivering services not available elsewhere in the community. This diversity of duties raises the question: What exactly do the police do? For example, should the police help an elderly person to change a light bulb on his or her front porch?

Question 3

What are the various operational styles of the police?

Answer 3

Police operational styles are adopted by police officers as a way of thinking about the role of police and law in society and how the police should perform their jobs. No officer conforms solely to one particular style to the exclusion of others. Siegel and Senna identify four basic police operational styles: crime fighter, social agent, law enforcer, and watchman. Broderick also presents four distinct operational styles: enforcers, idealists, realists, and optimists. Wilson, who offers three categories of operational styles (watchman, legalistic, and service), found that the political culture of a city exerts a major influence on the style of policing exercised by the police.

Question 4

Police officers use discretion every day. How is it regulated?

Question 5

The media is quick to point out police use of excessive force. How do police officers know when to use force and how much to use?

Question 6

The "fleeing felon" rule was overturned in Tennessee v. Garner in 1985 by the
U.S. Supreme Court. Was this a good decision? Why or why not?

Question 7

In American society today, the police officer's role is ambiguous. Officers are expected to survey a scene and exercise their discretion but also make decisions based on what's in the best interests of all parties, including society as a whole. Police officers face a great deal of public scrutiny, especially as it relates to the use of deadly force. Some police departments have responded to the call for better monitoring and accountability by employing the use of body cameras. Officials then must decide on what to do with evidence gathered from the device, particularly in cases involving the police use of deadly force. On one hand, they face pressure from the public to release that information. On the other, police have the primary responsibility of maintaining order and protecting life and property, and releasing footage could escalate already tense situations.
This scenario focuses on the police use of deadly force.
Recently, a traffic stop escalated in a shootout that ended with the officer wounded and the suspect dead. The media and several community organizations are questioning the use of deadly force in the situation. Citizens in the community are demanding to see a video from a cell phone that was taken during the incident. This scenario involves the impacts of media and the community on investigations into use of force.

-Which of the following is one of the four major factors said to influence officers' in exercising discretion?

A) characteristics of the crime
B) media attention to a crime
C) race of the victim
D) race of the suspect

Question 8

In American society today, the police officer's role is ambiguous. Officers are expected to survey a scene and exercise their discretion but also make decisions based on what's in the best interests of all parties, including society as a whole. Police officers face a great deal of public scrutiny, especially as it relates to the use of deadly force. Some police departments have responded to the call for better monitoring and accountability by employing the use of body cameras. Officials then must decide on what to do with evidence gathered from the device, particularly in cases involving the police use of deadly force. On one hand, they face pressure from the public to release that information. On the other, police have the primary responsibility of maintaining order and protecting life and property, and releasing footage could escalate already tense situations.
This scenario focuses on the police use of deadly force.
Recently, a traffic stop escalated in a shootout that ended with the officer wounded and the suspect dead. The media and several community organizations are questioning the use of deadly force in the situation. Citizens in the community are demanding to see a video from a cell phone that was taken during the incident. This scenario involves the impacts of media and the community on investigations into use of force.

-What type of technology is being used increasingly to monitor the use of force by police officers?

A) body cameras
B) department policies
C) less-than-lethal weapons
D) audio recording technology

Question 9

Although it is important to keep the community apprised of the situation this is not the highest priority here. Releasing the video would compromise the investigation and affect any court hearings that may be necessary in the future.
A representative from one of the local media outlets contacts you and tells you they have another video from a source who came to them rather than the police. They want you to release a copy of the video that the police department has to them and they will give you a copy of the video they have. You can get the video on your own but it will take time to go through the courts and request a warrant to do so.

-What are the two primary goals and objectives of police departments?

A) maintaining order and protecting life and property
B) maintaining order and protecting life
C) maintaining order and protecting property
D) protecting life and property

Question 10

Although it is important to keep the community apprised of the situation this is not the highest priority here. Releasing the video would compromise the investigation and affect any court hearings that may be necessary in the future.
A representative from one of the local media outlets contacts you and tells you they have another video from a source who came to them rather than the police. They want you to release a copy of the video that the police department has to them and they will give you a copy of the video they have. You can get the video on your own but it will take time to go through the courts and request a warrant to do so.

-The ability to make a choice in a given situation is called __________.

A) discretion
B) ambiguous
C) omnipresence
D) operational style

Question 11

What Would You Do?
You tell the media representative that you need a little time to discuss this with the mayor and other members of the police department. You contact the mayor, the public relations representative and legal firm for the police department and schedule a meeting that afternoon. At the meeting it is decided there are two possible options for dealing with the situation. First, you can agree to the request and give the media outlet a copy of the video you have in exchange for theirs. Second, you can refuse and make a request to a judge warrant for the video and a gag order preventing them from publicizing the video.
-What would you do?

Question 12

What Would You Do?
You tell the media representative that you need a little time to discuss this with the mayor and other members of the police department. You contact the mayor, the public relations representative and legal firm for the police department and schedule a meeting that afternoon. At the meeting it is decided there are two possible options for dealing with the situation. First, you can agree to the request and give the media outlet a copy of the video you have in exchange for theirs. Second, you can refuse and make a request to a judge warrant for the video and a gag order preventing them from publicizing the video.

-The ability to make a choice in a given situation is called __________.

A) discretion
B) ambiguous
C) omnipresence
D) operational style

Question 13

What Would You Do?
The mayor contacts you and urges you to complete the investigation. The media is placing enormous pressure on both the mayor's office and the police department to release the results of the investigation as soon as possible. The public relations representative for the police department has also notified you that the number of complaints coming in from the community has increased significantly since the shooting and releasing the results may calm the citizens. The legal firm representing the police department has warned you that release of any results prior to the conclusion of the full investigation may put the department at risk. With all of this information, and the knowledge that it will take more time to complete a thorough investigation you must make a decision regarding the release of information in the investigation.
-What would you do?

Question 14

Of the various roles played by police officers, which one is primarily about law enforcement?

A) Crime fighter
B) Social agent
C) Peacekeeper
D) Watchman

Question 15

Officer Brown has been assigned to walk up and down Main Street during a parade this afternoon. By simply being present, Officer Brown knows he will discourage troublemakers who might disrupt the event. This police role is ____________.

A) law enforcement
B) order maintenance
C) crime fighting
D) advocacy

Question 16

After what event were the order maintenance and social service roles of the police more emphasized because police are "first responders"?

A) the Vietnam War protests
B) World War II
C) Hurricane Katrina
D) the 9/11 attacks

Question 17

According to George Pugh, the most common roles police have to fulfill are those of law enforcer, maintainer of social order, and ________.

A) substitute parents
B) investigator
C) public servant
D) crowd control

Question 18

According to Sheehan and Cordner, the two primary goals and objectives of police departments are maintaining order and _________.

A) writing reports
B) protecting life and property
C) following suspects
D) making drug-related arrests

Question 19

Sergeant Claire of the local police force is responding to a call for help of an elderly man who has fallen down in the public park. Which of the six secondary police goals and objectives does this activity reflect?

A) assisting the sick and injured
B) preventing crime
C) enforcing noncriminal regulations
D) delivering services not available elsewhere in the community

Question 20

Routine police patrols help to reduce crime by establishing the feeling of police ________.

A) oppression
B) friendliness
C) omnipresence
D) rights

Question 21

In his book Police in a Time of Change, Broderick notes which of the following police operational styles?

A) crime fighters
B) idealists
C) law enforcers
D) watchmen

Question 22

Which police operational style is at work when officers threaten or "rough up" disruptive people rather than arresting them?

A) legalistic style
B) watchmen style
C) service style
D) idealist style

Question 23

Officers who place a relatively high value on individual rights and see their job as more people-oriented than crime-oriented are using which operational style?

A) optimist
B) idealist
C) realist
D) enforcer

Question 24

When a police officer makes a judgment about a situation and chooses a response from a group of options, she is using her __________.

A) discretion
B) education
C) judicial authority
D) idealism

Question 25

A police officer is dispatched to respond to a specific situation, which is an example of __________.

A) uncommitted time
B) discretionary time
C) committed time
D) nondiscretionary time

Question 26

What approach does Captain Blake use to determine how many officers will be needed at any given time, after considering number of calls for service, types of calls, time of day, time of year, and officer safety?

A) authorized level
B) per capita
C) workload-based
D) coverage-based

Question 27

According to research, police are less likely to be lenient when exercising their discretion in neighborhoods with large numbers of __________.

A) immigrant residents
B) African American residents
C) white residents
D) disabled residents

Question 28

The use of what by the police might be considered the ultimate use of discretion?

A) common sense
B) the power to arrest
C) deadly force
D) informants

Question 29

As of 2008, what percentage of contacts between police and citizens involved the use or threat of force?

A) 1.4 percent
B) 74.3 percent
C) 28.4 percent
D) 5 percent

Question 30

The increasing use of what has been used as evidence both to show police misconduct and to defend against such charges?

A) ankle bracelets
B) body cameras
C) community policing centers
D) eyewitness testimony

Question 31

Crime will increase in areas of the community that are not well maintained according to Wilson and Kelling's __________.

A) social order theory
B) watchmen theory
C) broken windows theory
D) judicial analysis theory

Question 32

Which statement best describes the ambiguity of the police role?

A) Police concentrate their efforts on the concept of police loyalty and the mutual support of their fellow officers.
B) Police protect society by arresting criminals.
C) Police place a relatively high value on individual rights and see their job as people-oriented rather than crime-oriented.
D) The police role is whatever the community expects the police to be.

Question 33

Preventing crime is considered what type of goal of police departments?

A) secondary
B) primary
C) ambiguous
D) unnecessary

Question 34

Which of the following statements about police operational styles is most accurate?

A) The majority of officers have the crime fighter operational style.
B) Optimists emphasize loyalty to their fellow officers.
C) Many officers show characteristics of several operational styles.
D) "Law enforcers" and "crime fighters" are the same operational style.

Question 35

According to Herbert Jacob, four factors determine the exercise of police discretion. Which of the following is NOT one of Jacob's four factors?

A) characteristics of the crime
B) relationship between the alleged criminal and the victim
C) relationship between police and the criminal or victim
D) characteristics of the police officer

Question 36

What 2014 incident fueled a narrative of police misconduct and excessive force?

A) Hurricane Katrina
B) the Ferguson shooting
C) the terrorist attacks of 9/11
D) the arrest of the Sony hackers

Question 37

In New York City in 2012, of the 16 officer-involved shootings in which a person was killed, what percentage of shooting victims were black?

A) 12.5 percent
B) 14 percent
C) 69 percent
D) 33 percent

Question 38

According to a Chicago study, when violent crime was included as a factor, which ethnic group had the highest percentage of officer-involved shooting deaths in the five-year period studied?

A) whites
B) African-Americans
C) Latinos
D) Asians