Abstract
Officer discretion is an oft-debated topic in American culture today. A plethora of research has been conducted on how local, county, and state law enforcement officers use their discretionary authority specific to enforcement of moving violations and the initiation of traffic stops, however to date, no such work has been conducted on a policing entity within the United States military. Through observational ride alongs and unstructured discussion with participants, this study breaks that barrier and assesses how one particular Air Force installationâs law enforcement officers exercise their authority.Â
Highlights
Traffic stops are the most common form of police-citizen encounters across America
A plethora of research has been conducted on how local, county, and state law enforcement officers use their discretionary authority specific to enforcement of moving violations and the initiation of traffic stops, to date, no such work has been conducted on a policing entity within the United States military
The concept ‘officer discretion’ can be defined as the flexibility of police officers to make their own choices as to how they shall proceed with their job (Nowacki, 2015), or the difference between full enforcement and what police are practically capable of doing in reality (Goldstein, 1963; Joh, 2007)
Summary
Traffic stops are the most common form of police-citizen encounters across America. Approximately, 42 percent of all citizen encounters with the police occurred because of traffic stops, amounting to nearly 26.5 million recorded traffic stop encounters nationwide (Langston & Durose, 2016). Traveling only one mile-per-hour over the posted speed limit would result in a traffic stop and citation every time because the police would have no power or authority to be lenient towards the infractions they observe. Through their discretionary power, police officers can instead observe a speeding car and decide not to stop it for a variety of reasons (both legal and extra-legal), or decide not to write a traffic citation after initiating a stop
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
