Police Officers' Use of Discretionary Power Regarding the Enforcement of Traffic Safety Laws

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

This study aims to further our knowledge about police officers’ decision making process regarding the enforcement of traffic safety laws. The discretionary power is the core concept of this study and is investigated through an ecological perspective. The use of the discretionary power is conceptualize as the results of interactions between individual (e.g. attitudes, officer’s experience), situational (e.g. types of infringements, driver’s attitude, prior infringements) and organizational factors (e.g. priorities). Nineteen police officers were interviewed and afterward, a thematic analysis was conducted. Preliminary findings suggest that situational factors play a major role in the decision to intercept and fine a car driver. The seriousness of the infringement and the driver’s history (presence of demerit points) affect the probability of being intercepted and fined. Tenured and non-tenured police officers also share different views of traffic citations: tenured officers hand down tickets for traffic safety purposes and non-tenured ones conceive citations as an evaluation criterion. Personal initiatives greatly influence the realization of traffic safety activities, especially in their unstructured patrol time. The use of discretionary power can therefore be conceptualized as a series of interrelated decisions that are first affected by organizational factors (priorities) and then, by contextual and individual factors.

Authors

• Marie-Andrée Couture, Université de Montréal

• Etienne Blais, Université de Montréal