A decision tree is a great way to determine a course of action and possible outcomes associated with an officer’s decision
CJS/241: Introduction To Police Theory And Practices
Wk 4 – Decisions, Discretion, and Accountability
Assignment Content
A decision tree is a great way to determine a course of action and possible outcomes associated with an officer’s decision. Today, everyone has a camera and decisions are reviewed, questioned, and judged by those who have no idea what happened. In Chapter 5, you learned about tactical decision-making and scenario-based training for new officers. Discretion is a major part of a police officer’s role, and the decision he or she makes in a split second can create many different outcomes and consequences.
Watch the Decision Tree video located in the University Library.
Read the Sidebar 11-2, “Police Discretion in a Routine Disturbance Call,” in the “A Short History of the Control of Police Discretion” section of Ch. 11, “Police Discretion,” of The Police in America.
Consider the different stages the officer is faced with in the scenario.
Select stage 4, 5, or 6 and review the officer response provided.
Stage 4: The mentally ill person picks up a baseball bat. Officer response: What should the officer do? Reassess the potential danger? Order the person to drop the bat? Threaten to arrest again? Attempt verbal de-escalation?
Stage 5: The mentally ill person says, “Go ahead and shoot me. I want to die.”Officer response: What should the officer do now? Shoot him? Try more verbal de- escalation? Ask family members or friends who are present about how serious is the person’s mental health issue? Ask one of these people to speak to the person?
Stage 6: The mentally ill person throws the bat away. (It is now at a safe distance from him.)Officer response: What should the officer do now? Order him to lie on the ground? Threaten arrest? Make an arrest?
Police Operations
• Nowacki, J.S., (2015). Organizational-level police discretion: An application for police use of lethal force. Crime & Delinquency, 61(5), 643-668.
• Phillips, S.W., (2015). Police discretion and boredom: What officers to when there is nothing to do. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 45(5), 580-601.
• American Academy of Pediatrics (2014). Decision Tree (02:52) [Video segment] in Helping a Young Person Own Her Solution—American Academy of Pediatrics: Reaching Teens, Films on Demand.
Create a 10- to 12-slide PowerPoint® presentation in which you:
o Describe possible decision points that the officer may have faced.
o Explain how one decision the officer could have made modeled abuse of discretion or positive use of discretion.
o Describe factors that may limit the officer’s discretion.
o Explain at least 3 internal and external mechanisms police departments use for accountability.
Incorporate at least 2 academic references plus your textbook in your presentation. In addition to the 10-12 content slides, you must have a title slide and a reference slide.
Include detailed speaker notes. The notes should be equivalent to you presenting to a group–in other words, the notes are what you would say in the presentation. Keep text on the slides at a minimum–use short “bullet points” only. No complete sentences, no paragraphs–you audience cannot read long strings of text during a presentation.
Textbook Walker, S. & Katz, C. M. (2022). The police in America: An introduction (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Chapter 11
Answer preview to a decision tree is a great way to determine a course of action and possible outcomes associated with an officer’s decision
12 slides
