Exam 8: Police Discretion and Its Control

Good decisions made by police officers are sometimes incorrectly interpreted by citizens as being improper, biased, or just bad.

Explain the role "danger" and "suspicion" play in police culture.

The amount of evidence associated with an offense is a major factor for officers when deciding whether or not to make an arrest or issue a citation.

All else equal, minority suspects are more likely to be arrested than White suspects.

Which of the following victim characteristics would make an officer less likely to pursue a criminal investigation?

If a police department is interested in hiring officers with a high level of integrity, the most important aspect of the officer selection process would be ______.

______ can provide an interpretation of departmental policy and serve as the basis on which police officers may model desired actions while performing the tasks of the job.

When the "code of silence" prevents police officers from reporting on the misconduct of fellow officers, it becomes a barrier to the ethical operation of the police department.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Arizona v. Gant allows the police to stop and frisk a subject when the officer has reasonable suspicion that the subject is involved in illegal activity.

The "code of silence" is incorporated into most police department's statement of values.