What is police discretion? Discretion means the availability of a choice of options or actions one can take in a situation. (Dempsey, Forst, & Carter, 2014, p. 143) It can be defined as the police officers’ decision-making power. Police are given freedoms to make decisions on the job and often act as a line between lawfulness and illegal acts. When a police officer performs his or her duties, there is a certain level of discretion that they must use to stay within the law. A substantial amount of the time, police officers are alone in the line of duty, meaning that they have to decide what appropriately to do when a situation arises.
