Final Flashcards
Police discretion
The freedom that an officer has in deciding what to do in a given situation.
Where does the authority to use police discretion come from?
Court cases, legislations, statutes, bylaws, departmental policies.
R. v. Beaudry (2007)
Constable Beaudry charged with obstruction of justice after he exercised discretion in not charging a fellow officer who had been driving impaired.
Youth Criminal Justice Act (2003)
Highlights how extrajudicial measures are often the most appropriate and effective, and should be used to hold youth accountable, as long as the offence is non-violent and they haven’t been charged before.
Robert and Kuykendall (1993)
Police discretion occurs at three points:
Determining whether or not to get involved in an incident.
Determining how to behave in an incident.
Selecting among alternatives when dealing with the incident.
What are some negatives associated with police discretion?
No way to ensure consistency of decisions.
Can give too much power to police.
Can be abused and allow for discrimination and bias.
Sheehan and Cordner (1989)
Why discretion is necessary:
Police officers who enforced every law would never stop doing paperwork or going to court.
Most law violations are minor and do not require full enforcement.
Full enforcement would build distrust among the public.
Full enforcement would overwhelm the CJS.
Discretion: Environmental factors
Socioeconomic status of the neighbourhood, type/level of crime in the community, community-police relations.
Discretion: Organizational factors
Departmental policies, degree of supervision/accountability, informal norms and rules.
Discretion: Situational factors
Seriousness of crime, harm experienced by the victim, role played by the victim in offence, wishes and characteristics of the victim.
Control of police discretion INSIDE of PDs
Better supervision, better training, internal affairs units, departmental policies, guidelines and models and internal sanctions for inappropriate use of discretion.
Control of police discretion OUTSIDE of PDs
Civilian oversight, citizen input, legislation, statutes, local laws, court cases, social media.
What is police management?
The administrative duties of controlling, directing and coordinating police personnel, resources and activities.
What level are most police managers?
Management can occur from any level, but most often at the Sergeant level.
How is policing a more unique and challenging environment than other jobs?
Difficult to assess the bottom line in policing, hard to determine if the agency is doing well, difficult to manage an agency that “can’t say no”.
What is police sustainability?
Police are trying to sustain high quality policing and the service provided over time.
Internal challenges to police sustainability
Culture that is resistant to change.
High training and selection cost.
Difficulty measuring, defining and communicating value of policing to public.
Agencies have to conform to moving target of standards for law enforcement.
Problem-solving policing
Focus on the causes of crime and identifying solutions; respond to underlying circumstances that create incidents, relies on expertise of officers.
Evidence-based policing
Monitor and evaluate problem outcomes, analyze and adjust strategies, training, innovation, efficiency, communication, academic partnerships, reporting on failures, Policing is changing over time and it’s hard to maximize efficiency while that is happening.
External challenges to police sustainability
Decreasing budgets, the changing nature of crime, technological advances impact both crimes and crime solving, downloading of services onto police.
What are some ways forward for police sustainability?
Eliminate certain services, charged for services, find ways to cut costs, civilianize some aspects of policing, privatize some aspects of policing.
What are some effective leadership characteristics in policing?
Ethical, ability to generate trust between the organization and community, legitimacy in the eyes of subordinates, a good role model, good communication, good decision making, strong thinking ability.
What are some tasks of effective police leaders?
Creating a shared vision, engender organizational commitment, showing care to subordinates, driving and managing change, problem solving.
Cognitive Appraisal Process
If it’s a novel threat, the stress is increased, but if one has training and experience with the stressor, they will be impacted less.
Study 1 (Stress Activity Mapping) hypotheses
Increased cardiovascular reactivity during phases of call.
Higher priority calls would induce more stress.
Officers with more experience would experience less stress.
Having more relevant skills would decrease stress.
Which hypotheses were supported in study one (stress activity mapping)?
Hypothesis 1 and 2.
Study 2 hypotheses
Increased stress in response to scenario.
Increases with a withdrawal of parasympathetic activity, increase in perceptual distortions.
Stress moderated by training and years of service.
High stress leads to poorer performance.
Higher levels of training would be associated with better performance.
How many people (%) in Study 2 made a lethal force error?
27.9% - 25 shot the bystander, 14 shot the subject.
Objective reasonableness standard
Absent of malice or gross incompetence, it should be on the organization to give police the amount of training needed to perform at the expected level. Limited funding, resources and facilities are some of the barriers.
Excited Delirium Syndrome
Extreme mental and psychological excitement. High on catecholamine, dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine. Gives seemingly super strength and a lack of fatigue, making them hard to get under control.
Which groups recognize ExDS?
American College of Emergency Physicians.
National Association of Medical Examiners.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine.
Study 1: ExDS
Violent behaviour is common, but not an indicator of ExDS. Characterized by extreme agitation, hypothermia, hostility, exceptional strength and endurance without apparent fatigue.
Study 2: ExDS
Found that they were often not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and were more likely to be violent, but not more likely to be carrying a weapon.
Study 3: ExDS
Looked at odds ratio that one or more of the interventions were ineffective on the subject, if the subject was injured or if the officer was injured.
Study 4: ExDS
Subjects displaying probable ExDS are at an increased risk of death and there is a need to minimize any additional psychological changes. In 18.9 million police/public encounters, 6.5% had features of ExDS.
What did ExDS Study 4 find to be the most effective interventions?
Carotid control (vascular neck restraint) and tasers (CEW in probe mode) are considered to be the most effective with minimal ongoing injury. Do not rely on subject compliance, trade off between effectiveness and risk of injury.
Emotionally Disturbed Person
Any person who appears to be in a state of crisis or any person who is mentally disordered, Historically, a commonly used term, viewed as disrespectful.
Person with a Mental Illness
Individual with a diagnosable mental illness.
Person in Crisis
An individual whose behaviour results in police contact due to an apparent need for urgent care with the mental health system, or because they are otherwise experiencing an ongoing mental or emotional crisis involving behaviour that is sufficiently erratic, threatening or dangerous that the police are called in order to protect the person or those around them.
Mental Health Act
Officers have a duty of care and are sometimes required by law to involuntarily commit people in crisis.
MHA Form 1
Application for psychiatric assessment. Physician contacts police to involuntarily commit someone because they have seen them recently and are concerned. Expires in 7 days.
MHA Form 2
Justice of the Peace order. Anyone can go to the Justice of the Peace if they are worried someone is in danger. If the Justice agrees, police can apprehend the person. Expires in 7 days.
MHA Form 47
Community treatment order. Someone has a mental health issue that they are not following the treatment plan for. Doctor hasn’t seen you in a while and is worried. Expires in 30 days.
MHA Section 17 apprehension
Police can apprehend you during an interaction if you are a danger to yourself or someone else, lack the capacity to care for yourself, are acting in a disorderly manner, or officers believe it would be dangerous to wait for a Form 2. Acute, immediate issue.
Huey et al, 2021: Mental health calls account for 1-17% of calls.
1.4% end in MHA apprehensions.
5.08% of calls end in wellness checks.
0.55% were suicide related calls.
MH related calls, MH apprehensions and wellness checks are all increasing.
Issues with police MH response
Interactions consume a lot of police resources, they are not MH experts, criminalization, stigma and trauma involved.
Brief Mental Health Screener
Mobile online form created by academics for use by officers when they encounter someone exhibiting signs of MH issues. May be predictive of hospital admissions but is not an intuitive tool and has been called unrealistic in naturalistic settings due to having 46 questions.
Situation tables
Frequent meetings between police and MH services to aid in communication regarding individuals who are at risk for criminality or victimization. Look at the table to find a proactive solution for that person.
Police MH training
In Canada, varies in amount, goals, content and delivery. Often focuses on policies and legislation, ledetifying symptoms of mental illness, crisis intervention strategies and available community mental health resources.
De-escalation training
Focuses on techniques aimed at reducing the tension during an escalated situation. Lack of consensus around what works. Most common in Canada is Crisis Intervention and De-Escalation Training.
Mental Health Crisis Response Training (Lavoie et al, 2023)
Enhance de-escalation competencies while also managing safety. Training is mandatory initially, around 8-10 hours plus refresher training every year. Evaluated the effects of training and de-escalation shores increased following training , compared to control.
Crisis Intervention Team model
40 hour training on crisis intervention and mental health provided to front line officers. Classroom component aimed at increasing officer knowledge. Simulations that teach escalation and situational assessment. Attempting to divert PMIs away from CJS, CIT trained officers have better ability to do so.
Co-response teams
Pairs a specially trained officer and a MH professional, respond to MH CFS, Act as a secondary unit, officers go first to determine if it’s safe for the civilian to attend. Dominant response in Canada and the UK.
