Discretion is the power to make decisions that affect others. We talked about in class how discretionary decisions occur at all points of the criminal justice timeline and greatly impact your progress through (or out) of the system. We also mentioned briefly how discretionary decisions can be impacted by biases that can positively or negatively impact the individual whom the decision affects. Please post a comment describing an instance where you exerted discretion over another person, and an instance where discretion was used for or against you. These may be legal situations, but do not have to be. Be clear about what the discretionary decisions were, who had the power, the outcome of the situation, and what if any biases were operating.
Here is a link also to the criminal justice timeline we discussed in class.
http://www.fsu.edu/~crimdo/cj-flowchart.html
One instance where I used my own discretion in making a decision was in a matter involving the father of my oldest son. In our child custody order, the judge prohibited my son's father from leaving our son in the care of his mother because of her past history of smoking marijuana. On several occasions, my son returned from visitation speaking about spending the night at his grandma's house. I admit, I was infuriated about the incidents but I knew that I had two choices. I could file a Contempt of Court charge against my ex for violating the provisions of our court order or I could decline to pursue the matter and simply document the incidents for later use if need be. Using my discretion and prior knowledge of how these types of cases operate, I opted for the second choice. This is only because I knew the violation would be considered minor and I lacked any physical proof the incidents actually occurred (all I had were the statements from my 6 year old son).
My decision did have some bias to it. I knew that if I pursued charges, it would make me appear to be petty and discredit any future claims that I brought before the judge. Within this last year, I realized I had made the right decision, though. Just as I had predicted, my son's father committed several severe violations of our court order (I found out that he was smoking marijuana and drinking on a daily basis again along with some other more serious allegations). I am currently in the middle of pursuing the Contempt charges and a Modification to Visitation for this matter. I know that when we finally appear in front of the judge, I will be able to show not only indisputable evidence of the major violations but also a record of the other minor infractions to the court order. I will also be able to show the communication I have had over the years regarding the minor violations (thanks to me saving every email correspondence we ever had) and how I made the attempt to handle the matters myself rather than taking him to court every chance I had. Because of the use of my discretion regarding the minor incidents, my testimony will hold more weight with the judge and I will be able to establish a clear pattern him habitually violating of our court order.
An incident where some one used their discretion on me happened a little over a year ago. I was pregnant with my youngest son and was about 2 weeks away from my due date. At that time, my husband had been trying to pay off some old fines and had voluntarily signed up for the payments to be garnished from his paycheck. Due to a clerical error by the clerk of court, the payments were not being garnished as they should have been so a warrant had been put out for his arrest (unbeknown to us). To our surprise, the town officer arrived at our door only hours after the warrant had been issued to escort my husband to the county jail. More than a little peeved, my husband got his shoes on to go with the officer.
A month or so prior to this incident, I had gone down to Missouri for a conference and had stopped by a fireworks shop on my way back, purchasing a few of the "good fireworks" to set off later on my grandparents' farm. When I got back home, I had placed my bag of goodies on a bench that was in my entrance way and had forgotten about them. Needless to say, the officer spotted the bag and some of its contents. He took my husband out to his squad car then returned back into the house where he began to question me about the fireworks as he shifted through the bag (some might think that this could be considered an illegal search but its not because the bag was in plain sight thus giving him the authority to look through it). He kept asking me if the fireworks were my husband's (I had a sneaking suspicion that he was trying to pin a charge on him for possession of illegal fireworks) but I kept telling him truth that I had purchased the fireworks myself. When I wouldn't place the blame on my husband, the officer then told me that legally he could take me to jail for having them but he would cut me a break as long as I didn't set them off in town and that I got rid of them. Clenching my teeth, I "thanked him" oh-so-nicely and he left to take my husband to the county jail for the non-payment of a fine warrant.
I know that he was biased in his decision not to arrest me because of my gender and also because I was so far into my pregnancy. I also suspect that he really didn't care that I had fireworks in the first place but was more concerned with trying to put another charge on my husband to lock him up for a while (just to clarify, this suspicion is based on the way he was questioning me along with some other incidents that we have had pertaining to this specific officer).
As an RA, I work in the most watered-down form of law enforcement (besides mall cops). When a policy has been violated, it is up to my discretion as to how to address the violation. A specific instance occurred at the beginning of this year. It was the first weekend after classes and I was in my room reading the New York Times at about 1AM. Some of my residents knocked on my door and told me that they had seen a guy and girl go into our bathroom together with towels on. Official policy is that girls cannot be in a guy's bathroom, and they can most certainly not be having sex in a public place. So I call the RA on Call and have him come back me up. We go into the bathroom and sure enough, there's a shower stall occupied and we could clearly hear a girl giggling. We asked them to come out with their towels on and talk to us. The guy complied and it turned out that he was one of my residents and was clearly drunk. He also happened to be a freshman. We explained to him that he couldn't bring a girl into a men's restroom and that they could not be having sex in the shower. He agreed and he and the girl led us back to his room, where we were able to obtain their ID information. They were both clearly intoxicated and underage, and since the girl had violated policy as a guest to our building, we were supposed to escort her out of the building. However, as she was drunk and because she said, "Will you guys hurry up? I really need to get off," we used our discretion and figured that we would let her stay and do whatever it was that she needed to do to "get off" and then sleep here for the night. We figured that she would be much safer in the dorm than out wandering the streets without a ride home.
A time when someone had to use their discretion on me happened a few months ago. For the past 2 years, my dormitory has had a central recycling program. I'm a very environmentally minded fellow, and thus was a big supporter of this recycling initiative. One morning, however, the residents of my dorm awoke to learn that their recycling center had been completely disposed of. The recycling center was maintained by volunteers because our custodians had told us that it was not in their contract to handle recyclables. Apparently, the volunteers had neglected to thoroughly clean the recycling room and the custodians complained to our grad assistant. Our grad assistant is a very emotional and reactionary person, and reacted to this by completely removing our recycling program. She stated that recycling was a privilege that we were no longer worthy of, and removed it without consulting with anyone or offering a warning. I, and the rest of my dorm, was outraged. However, I cooled my jets and worked to find a solution. Weeks went by and I received no cooperation from the grad student nor my hall coordinator. Finally, enough students complained to me that I decided to look into it on my own. I learned that our custodians had lied to us and that it was in their contract to handle recyclables and to clean the recycling room. So I sent a factually accurate email to the grad student, the hall coordinator, and the director of residence life expressing that I believed recycling should be restored because the custodians could now be held accountable for cleaning the room. I also expressed my displeasure for the grad student's reaction, stating that following her logic, it was equally likely that she would cut power to the building if we left lights on too long, shut off the water if we showered for too long, or turn off the heat if we had our windows open. Within minutes of sending the email I was called into my hall coordinator's office and he seriously considered firing me on the spot for disrespecting the grad student's authority. Luckily, aside from a tendency to send factual, if harsh, emails and come to conclusions based on logic, I'm a really good RA. I do not mean to sound immodest, I simply receive high ratings on all of my evaluations. So, my boss made a judgment call and thankfully decided not to fire me, and he even rehired me for my third year as an RA. Thanks to his discretion, I was able to keep my job. As a side note, because I know that you all are so interested in how all of this turned out, within a week recycling was back in our dorm and the custodians were charged with handling it. Coincidence? I think not. :)
I already stated my example of discretion in class on Tuesday, however I'll reiterate it:)
Last year, at around this time I happened to be out on a Thursday night. It was a little past 3am, and some friends and I (2 girls, 2 boys) were leaving the bar. A cop was 'suspicious' of the activity, so he pulled us over. It was a guy that was driving, and he made the guy get out and do all the hoop-las that you have to do when they suspect you've been drinking. He passed the test, but the cop still wasn't convinced. Therefore he made the guy take a breath-a-lizer (pardon the spelling), and you can't really fool those...(okay, so I heard you can but this time it just wasn't happening). Long story short, he got a DUI and spent the night in a nice little jail cell. In the meanwhile, the other guy (oh, mind you both guys are of age) was said to be lipping of and got sent to jail as well. Me and my friend (both girls, shocker) had also been drinking, and it was obvious. My friend had a fake on her, and also a 21 wristband (she was 19 at the time). I had nothing on me, but I was with all of them which looked bad enough. But, the cop looked at my friend and I (remind you again, girls) and told us to walk home. He didn't even take my friends fake. Oh, we didn't even get tested for alky. I don't even have to describe how this situation points out discretion, it's pretty obvious. But I can tell you one thing, I love being a girl.
I also spoke of my experience with a certain cop's discretion in class on Tuesday but will go more into depth on how I feel about the topic of a cop discretion. I had dropped off two of my hispanic friends at their houses in a very small town next to mine. First off, this town is comprised of mostly conservative dutch people and then a large number of hispanic people who had moved into the community recently due to the town's new meat plant. I had dropped off my two friends when moments later I was pulled over going 25 in a 35. The police officer asked me what I was doing in that area of town and how I knew both of my friends. She then asked what I did that night. After I told her I went to a movie she asked for my insurance. I then asked her what I had done wrong? She simply said that there have been a number of robberies in the area lately and had suspision that I in fact was stealing and had the right to pull me over. In all reality this woman saw that I had hispanics in my car and I don't feel like she had any right to pull me over. I was simply driving in that area with my two friends. I feel like discretion is a very broad thing for police to have. They basically choose who gets pulled over and who doesn't. The thing that really bothered me was that her discretion was probably clouded by the race of the people I was with. We trust police officers to make the right choices when dealing with such things, but when things like racism, prejudice, or anything come into play it is scary to think about how police discretion can be influenced. I think it would be fascinating to study discretion in cops and how truthful and unbiased their discretion actually is.
I guess one instance where I have and will have discretion over others would be on a few of our spring Break trips. This coming spring break my roommate and a few of our friends want to go down to Florida for the week. However all of them are under the age of 21 and by legal reasons they are not able to check in at a hotel. For some reason you have to be 21 to rent a hotel room. So I kind of have discretion over where we go to an extent. I personally would rather go to Texas but everyone else wants to go to Florida. The outcome that we came to was that we would go to Florida instead of Texas. The only bias that I saw was the fact that I have family down in Texas to where I would want to stop and see them and I don’t think everyone else would have enjoyed that.
An instance where someone used discretion against me would be when I got pulled over. I was leaving the town of Hudson after work one night and I wanted to get home quickly because I had something going on. I ended up getting pulled over by the County Deputy. He had clocked me going 18 over the speed limit and I was pretty sure I was going to get a ticket. When he took my license and registration and went back to his car I started freaking out about how I didn’t want a ticket and I didn’t want to have to pay the fine and what my dad would think since he is a former cop. The cop came back and gave me my license and registration back and told me that since it was the first time that I had gotten pulled over he was just going to give me a warning. He told me to watch my speed and I was on my way. I was especially happy that I didn’t get a ticket. I believe he used discretion in the sense that he knew I wasn’t a repeated offender so he just wanted to kind of scare me into watching my speed (which he did). I think there may also be a bias in the fact that I am female. At the time I had a red sports car so if I had been male I think he would have given me a ticket without second thought.
I work for the Department of Public Safety on campus. One of my jobs is writing parking tickets to people on campus (I know everyone hates those orange envelopes). I have discretion in giving someone a parking ticket or not. There will be a lot of times when I’m just about to print a ticket and the person comes out and gives me there story of why they had to park illegally. I know most of the times their stories are probably make up, but depending on the day and on the person, sometimes I choose not to print the ticket. I have noticed that I tend to let more females go than males. It also depends on if the story is even believable. I have heard every story under the sun, but if I have been in that situation before that the person is telling me about then I’m also more likely not to give them a parking ticket. That is how I use discretion in my job every day.
A time when someone used discretion on me involved a cop and my hometown. I come from a small town so everyone knows everyone. I know most of the cops, but a few of the cops I watch their children. I have been pulled over for speeding, turning in the wrong lane, running a stop sign, but each time I have been pulled over it has been my one of the cops that I babysit for. Each time he has let me off without anything. I know the reason I don’t get anything is because I watch their children. If I didn’t babysit for these cops I might have gotten a ticket or at least a warning.
I am a criminology minor and in all of my classes so far we have talked about discretion. Almost anyone with an officer badge can use the power of discretion. This is what explains why there is such a difference between for example two separate vehicles getting pulled over by a police officer. One person may get out of a ticket because they know the officer personally, while another person may get a ticket even if they act exactly like the person who didn't receive a ticket. To me I think the system shows unequal treatment and many unfair outcomes because of the use of discretion. Although, I know it would be very difficult to establish rules that would get rid of discretion because every person is different and the circumstances that officers find people in can range widely. I believe some officers abuse their power of discretion while there are still those that use it wisely it is hard to respect people that abuse their power. I have never had a bad experience with a police officer, but I have heard my fair share of racial discrimination that occurs here in the Cedar Valley. Being racist or not against someone of different color is a major use of discretion, and in my opinion it is the downfall to using discretion. Overall, though I believe that discretion needs to be used and I hope to see people who have the power to use it, express it in their most professional manner.
I volunteered as an Interview judge for the Academic Decathlon event last night at Columbus High School. While getting a soda at the concession stand I ran into a cousin of mine and found out that he was scheduled to come to my room for an interview. I made the decision to notify the event organizer to decide what should be done in order to ensure that the procedures for the event were followed appropriately. The event organizer then made the decision to have my cousin switch rooms with another participant.
My decision to notify the event organizer was an act of my own discretion, at that time as a judge I had power over what happened with my cousin’s interview. I could have chosen to say nothing and given my cousin a high score; or perhaps if I still judged him fairly he may have been overly nervous and done poorly; etc. As soon as I notified the event organizer the decision as to what happened with my interview slot, and my cousin’s interview was at the discretion of the organizer who had power over both of us. In essence he had three choices: do nothing, switch the student, or switch the interviewer. Either myself or my cousin could have switched rooms.
The organizer opted to have me switch paperwork with another room so my cousin and another student switched rooms. My own opinion was based on what I thought was best for my cousin (biased towards what was best for him), I could tell as soon as he realized he was in my room he seemed nervous, not only because he would be embarrassed to give a professional interview to me, but also because he was scared it was against the rules. The event coordinator was more than likely biased in favor of the procedural justice of the program to the extent that it would be a reflection of his school, Columbus.
A situation when discretion has been exerted on me was a situation in high school. I was 17 years old and taking my friend home at 2am. I was driving on one of the main streets and was half way to his house when I was pulled over by a Police Officer. I pulled over, and was very nervous as this was my first time being pulled over. He informed me that the light on my license plate was out then asked for my license, insurance, and registration. He then went back to his car after informing us both to stay in my car. He ran my information, and once he was done he came back to talk to me. He informed me that since I have no prior record and this was my first time being pulled over that he was going to give me a warning. He then asked me where I was heading; I told him I was taking my friend home. The Officer then told me to drive safe, and let me go. He ended up following me a block away from my friends’ house to make sure that I was going where I told him. I think the Police Officer may have used some bias only because I was a teenage female driver in my small town, I was driving a black sports car, and I was out past midnight.
A situation that I used discretion was about a year ago. My boyfriend and I were heading back to his house from dinner in Ankeny when we saw a black car swerving all over the road. My boyfriend and I talked about it for a minute and decided that they were endangering not only their lives, but the lives of everyone else on the road, so I ended up calling the non-emergency phone number for the Ankeny Police. While I was on the phone with the Police, I had my boyfriend follow the black car as I was updating the police on every turn they were making. The car ended up stopping in the parking lot of an apartment building, so my boyfriend and I stopped as well but we stayed out of their sight as much as possible to avoid any confrontation. We waited in the exit of the parking lot until the Police showed up. The driver was still in the car with the car on. The situation ended with the Police showing up and my boyfriend and I left. Two nights later a Police Officer from Ankeny called me to see if I saw who was driving the car, but it was dark out and we only saw the back of the car so I was not able to see the driver. He then informed me that the person who was in the driver’s seat was drunk and was going to trial for an OWI. I believe that I made the right choice in my discretion to report the driver because they were endangering the lives of anyone who was on the roads at that time. I believe that I was using some bias because I do not like when people drive drunk, so in that instance I used my bias against people who drink and drive to report that driver.
My senior year in high school I was going back to school from a class at another school (I'm from a small town and we shared classes with another school). I was driving alone so of course I was singing and was totally zoned out. I usually use cruise control, but of course, the day I didn't set it I get pulled over for going 6 over...really...6 over?! I didn't even realize I was speeding because I was going the same speed as the car ahead of me. The cop who pulled me over is famous for his strictness (we all know those cops!), so I pretty much knew that I was going to get a ticket. It was my first time getting pulled over, but unfortunately, the trooper didn't use his discretion in my favor and I got a ticket. Luckily for me though, my dad didn't make me pay for my ticket because he said, "He probably pulled you over because you are a teenage girl." (With some other words thrown in there). But what the heck, I didn't have to pay for the ticket!
I work on campus and I am the manager of where I work. There are 5 other students who work with me, and basically I am just in charge of making schedules and making sure everybody knows what they are doing and are doing what they are supposed to be doing. A guy that works with me worked there last year, so he should have known the ropes, but one night he left the door unlocked without the money locked in the safe because people were coming back a couple of hours later. Since nothing got stolen, I used my discretion and didn't "write" him up for it and just basically told him not to do it again. I'm happy with the decision I made because it didn't create any hostility or cause any problems and he has since been locking the door!
One time where I used my own discretion was in high school. I was the captain of our dance team and there was this girl who wanted to try out after the cut-off. I knew that she was the kind of person who didn't put a lot of effort into things and was always late to school or turned in her homework and etc. in late. When she approached me to see if she could still audition for a spot on the team, my first instinct was to say NO! However, one of my good friends was also running a little late for the auditions so I didn't want to be unfair. I let her audition anyways, and she actually turned out to be a really good dancer. Unfortunately, her lack of motivation continued and she eventually was kicked off the team. Although my decision probably wasn't the smartest, I believe it was the most fair.
The instance when someone used their discretion towards me ended up costing me over $300. It was this last year down in Iowa City and the UNI vs. Iowa football game. I went down to Iowa City with my boyfriend and his family and some of his friends. Although I knew drinking under the age of 21 was illegal, I still ended up tailgating. It was about 8:30 in the morning when I first saw the cops riding around on their little bicycles. Everyone told me to relax because I had nothing to worry about and that the cops only do something if your acting totally obnoxious. So I continued to drink and about 30 minutes later the cops came and asked to see me and my boyfriends ID's. I really thought they would let us go because we were just standing around talking and not acting totally wasted like so many other people. The whole rest of the day I was irritated because I knew there were tons and tons of underage people drinking who were acting stupid because they were so drunk and they didn't get an MIP!!
I guess i can't really think of any times I personally used discretion towards someone, but there was one time where discretion was used somewhat when I was down at Iowa State partying with a lot of friends. We walked into this one apartment building that was fancy and expensive. To get in each floor you had to have a key card that gained you access otherwise you were stuck standing on the stair well. Well anyways, me and like 10 other friends were walking up the stairs and we heard that there was a party on the 6th floor and there were cops on the 4th. When we got to the 6th floor there were two big guys that were just leaning against the wall with a lot of beer around them unopened. Granted if we weren't drinking logic would have told us to be smart and play it cool. We asked the guys if they heard of any cops on the 4th floor and they said no we haven't heard anything, so we saw one person in the hallway who let us into the place, we gave him a beer and right when we did that the two big guys were like, a, ya, were the cops.. Then everyone took off, but my cousin was caught so I stayed back with him and another friend. The cops were frisking my cousin who already had 3 possessions and they were completely focused on him. The cops asked me and my friend if we were 21 and we said no and we dropped all the beer we had on us on the floor. They didn't even look at us and told us to get out of there while my cousin was getting frisked behind the apartment receiving his 4th possession. I don't know if this was a lot of discretion but they did just take one person and walk off like that's all they wanted, nothing more.
I haven't had many opportunites to actually use discretion towards someone, but I can think of one particular example. Two summers ago, I was a lifeguard at our public pool in our small town. I basically knew all of the kids who came, and didn't really yell or blow my whistle at them for doing certain things, such as hanging on the rope. There is this one kid who I know, and he knows me and always makes fun of me whenever he came to the pool, which was like everyday. He would joke with some of the kids at the pool, who were mostly his friends. I allowed this behavior, simply because I knew who he was. One day, though, some other kids from out of town came to the pool whom I didn't know. They engaged in the same behavior as the other kid that I knew, but because I did not know them at all, I would blow my whistle and yell and get mad at them, especially if they didn't stop the behavior. I felt kind of bad for yelling at these kids and not the ones that I knew, but hey, they didn't know who I was :)
I have a coulpe examples of when discretion was used on me and my friends. The first one I told in class but I will tell it again. Me, my best friend, and two other guys that were in my car were all going bowling one afternoon. We were in a 25 mph zone, so, like usual, I was going about 33-34 mph. I usually don't get pulled over for this, but sure enough, I look in my rear-view mirror, and a cop had suddenly turned around and put his lights on. My heart started beating really fast becaue I had never gotten pulled over before. There were two cops in the car, one who I did not know, and another cop, who must have been training, who I did know because he graduated high school with my sister, and he was a previous cop in our town. The cop who I didn't know came up to my window, and asked me if I knew how fast I was going, blah, blah, blah. The two cops went back to the cop car, and the guy I didn't know said, "Well, my partner over here saved you today. He said he knew who you were, so I'll just give you a warning." Thank goodness :)
Another incident where discretion was used on me and my friends was in high school. We didn't really like this girl who was a couple grades below us, and she did some things to make us REALLY mad at her. So my friend got some bags of cow poop, and we put them all in this girl's locker after school, so when she came to school the next day, her locker would reak of cow poop. Well, she told her mom about it, and her mom talked to the pricipal and says she knows who did it. She gave the principal our names, and he said, "Oh those girls? No, I don't think they would do that." :)
I spoke of my instance in class when discretion was used for me but ill now explain what happened to lead up to that point. This was a few years ago and I was sixteen at the time. So being a bored sixteen year old with a driver license, me and my friends decided to go to my old middle school parking lot and do burn outs and stuff. We'll little did we know but we were being watched the whole time and just as were about to leave the cops pulls in and blocks our exit. He then explains to use the trouble that were in and his "backup" pulls in...Well his back up just happens to be my old middle school teacher at that exact middle school that we were caught in the act at. So now looking back at the situation I saw that they were just messing with us with this good cop bad cop routine just to scare us. I say that because the first cop wanted to give us tickets for destruction of private property but my old teacher was playing the good cop trying to convince him that we were good kids. In the end they tore up the tickets and shook our hands and told us to stay out of trouble but stayed around and joked with us for a bit about our little show that we put on for them with the burn outs. Kind of a funny situation now that I look back on it.
Now as for me using discretion this happens all the time when I work construction in the summers. This particular event happened this summer and involved a new employee that broke a window on our truck when taking tools off of it. I yelled at him for being an idiot and thought about firing him but decide to see if he was any use on the actual project itself and turns out he was very skilled just a little clumsy at times. So I used my discretion and didn’t fire him for one incident which led him to be extra careful and actually a very solid worker.
When I was in high school, I worked at a local Subway restaurant. Since I had worked there a majority of my time in high school, I was one of the most experienced part time employees for much of my employment. Although I was not technically management, I was frequently asked for feedback about other employees and to "keep an eye on" newer/trouble employees. I knew that the owner trusted me but was also very harsh on any behaviors she deemed "not okay". Many times, I used my discretion and didn't report people for not working 24/7, taking a break, and other small infractions that really weren't a big deal but would have gotten them in trouble with the owner. If I had ended up reporting them all, very few employees would be left and I'd be spending hours in the owner's office instead of working. In most cases, all I had to do was ask the employee to complete a task and they started working right away and it wasn't a problem. It would have made much more trouble to bother reporting them.
Whenever I would go out to eat with my friends, I sometimes noticed discretion being used against me and my friends. We would go to our favorite restaurant and the waitress or waiter would be less than helpful towards us. Not that they were outwardly rude, but they did not have a friendly demeanor about them. They were slow and not very polite to my friends. I've since returned to this restaurant with my family and have had completely different service from the same wait staff. After this observation, I have concluded that waitresses and waiters sometimes put more effort into table where they expect a larger tip. Obviously a family of four with 2 adults is going to tip a bit more than 4 teenagers. However, since I had worked in the food industry, I usually tip pretty well, even if the waiter doesn't always deserve it, so their loss. I know there's more examples of teenagers tipping poorly than well, but I think that good service should be given to all.
I was with a friend and we were going to Algona to visit her grandparents, when we got into town we decided we should get something to eat and my friend wanted to visit her cousin who was working at Subway. After we got our food my friend thought it would be a good idea to peel out of the parking lot, pull an illegal U-turn and then speed down the main road and then we saw a cop and had a brief conversation wondering if cops can radar you when your goin the opposite direction and while admist in our conversation we got our answer. yes, on came the lights and the cop pulled a quick u turn that made it look like he was chasing some bank robbers or something. Anyways, we finally decide we should probably pull over out steps the most hilarious and sterotypical looking cop I have ever seen. He had a mustache,balding, and mirrored sunglasses I was restraning myself from laughing and my friend was very nervous. The cop approached the car and first thing he did was look in the back seat then he stared me down and then the driver and asked have you guys been drinking and I said its 2pm on a sunday we look like we are 15 so no. He was like you do know its a holiday weekend. then he told my friend if she knew why he pulled her over and then my fairly tom boyish friend put on a very ditsy voice and was like UMM i dont know. Thw com responded and he had seen everything we did. She quickly repilied she didnt know it was illegal and that she didnt know the speed limit which was 25 not 45 cuz she was not from around here and made the most hilarious attempt at a girly laugh she had driven this area many times and in we had just past a sign when we got pulled over. The officer actually let her go with a warning that was a huge suprise and did change my view slightly on cops maybe they are not all evil.
A time I used discretion is when I was babysitting. At the time, the kids I watched were 2 and 4. They're usually well-behaved, and I babysit them every week. There was one time in particular that I recall well. Their parents were gone for their weekly Bible study, and the kids were told ahead of time that if they misbehaved they couldn't go to the library the next day. The library is the kids' favorite place to go. They were behaving just fine until their bedtime arrived. The younger one started acting up and complaining that she wasn't tired, and she refused to go to sleep. Pretty soon, the other one was acting up too and being just as loud. It took me about 10 or 15 minutes to convince them to at least stay in her bed and try to go to sleep. When their parents came home, they asked how the kids behaved. This is where my discretion came in. Knowing that their trip to the library was at stake, I told them that the girls behaved well. I did mention that the younger one did not want to go to sleep, and that made the older one upset too, but did not mention how long it took them to go to sleep or anything. There were some biases involved in my decision making. First, these kids hardly ever misbehave, and when they do, it can be way worse than it was that night. Second, I babysit for my boss. The kids ended up going to the library the next day, and all was well.
A time when discretion was used for me would be when I got pulled over. It happened at the end of the school year last year when I was driving home for the weekend. I was on the interstate, almost to Ames, when I got pulled over by a state trooper. I was kind of shaken up because it was the first time I've ever been pulled over by a cop. I was also kind of freaking out because I thought I was being pulled over for speeding. It turns out the cop was mad because of my front license plate. I got a new car, and it didn't have a front plate holder installed yet, and so my license plate was in the dashboard in the front. I told the cop that I was going home to get the holder installed on my car (which was a total lie, but he bought it). The cop could see that I was upset, and trying to eat my lunch, so he let me go with just a warning. He didn't even mention that I was speeding.
An incident where I used discretion on someone else happened freshman year. I was a few points shy of receiving an A in a class. Since the teacher was younger and female I thought I might have been able to charm my way into getting a few extra points and getting bumped up to an A. I went into the teacher’s office and asked her if I could receive some bonus points for having showed up and participated in every class. She did indeed bump me up to an A. Because my teacher was female and younger, I felt that it would be more likely for her to give me the extra points rather than if the teacher was male and older.
An incident where someone used someone used discretion over me happened over this summer. I had just gotten off Highway 20 and was making my way into Cedar Falls along Hudson Road when my Radar Detector started to go off. Naturally I was on my cell phone at the time and paid it of little mind. As I came closer into town my fuzz buster became increasingly noisy, yet I still paid little attention to it. I also failed to realize that I was doing 58 mph in a 45 mph speed zone. Needless to say as I passed Greenhill Road those flashing red and blue lights appeared in my rearview mirror. As fast as I as the lights appeared behind me, I ripped my fuzz buster off my dash and through it in the back seat. The cop pulled me over and I quickly explained to him that I had just gotten into town and had not adjusted to the speed of traffic yet. The cop ran my plates and let me off with a warning explaining that if he had chosen to give me a ticket it would have been $100 plus. I thanked the cop and continued on my way. The cop used discretion here in several ways. First off, since this was my first time being pulled over the officer probably used discretion that it was my first offense. Also since I hid the fuzz buster, I probably had a better chance of getting away than had I left the fuzz buster on the dashboard. Also I think that the type of car I was driving played a factor into the cop’s judgment. I drive a black Audi A6 2002, not a typical reckless college-kid car. This time I do not believe my race or gender played a role into the cop letting me go. Had these other factors not been in play, I feel the cop would have taken me for a typical reckless male college driver and given me a ticket on the spot.
One example where I have used discretion is at work. I work at a retail store and technically people are not allowed to take pictures of the merchandise. (however--everyone has done it at one point in time). The reason for this policy is to protect the rights and designs of the designer and/or company. There are many times in which I have seen people taking pictures of an outfit or a dress but have simply turned my head. The reason for not saying anything to these customers is the fact that I can tell they are taking the picture and sending them to a husband or mom as a way to decide if they would like the purchase the outfit or dress. However, there are also times when you can tell the sole purpose for taking the picture is because they like the pattern and are going to try and replicate it themselves or find a similar item at a cheaper price. In this case I have mentioned something to the customer. In this situation I was the person who had the power and there was some bias depending on how I interpreted the reason/motive of the customer.
A time when discretion was used against me was when I got stopped by a couple of cops on my way to my grandmothers house. The state police were doing safety checks (at least thats what they said) one weekend where every car on the road had to stop and talk with a officer. The officers were checking to make sure windshield wipers, car lights, and horns were in working order. Also they were checking for cars registration and proof of insurance. At this point in time my family had just moved to New York therefore my plates, registration and insurance had been switched over to the state of New York..however,I kept my Iowa residency therefore had an Iowa drivers license. When the cop inquired about my insurance for the life of me I could not find my insurance or registration papers. Therefore, there I was without proof of insurance or registration, New York license plates and an Iowa license (to me those were clear signs of a stolen car) however, the officer advised me to locate those forms as soon as possible. In this situation the cop could have easily asked me to step aside and look into the situation further. It was obvious that this was something they were ready and willing to do considering all the other cars that were pulled over even further with cops doing further investigating. Thankfully he did not do so and clearly the officer had all the power. I would say there was a bias in this situation. I am not sure exactly what the bias was but there was something about my situation that made the cop let me go.
I work in retail, so I feel I am constantly using discretion at my job when working with customers. One thing that comes to mind is asking to see identification when people use unsigned credit cards. I ask for people to see my ID on all my credit cards, so I always ask people for them, but sometimes people shop without their IDS. I use my discretion in a case-by-case basis, letting some people show me other cards that they have with their name on it if they don't have their ID. I realize sometimes people forget it, or lost it, or have it in a different purse, so as long as they can show me other cards with their name on it or a student ID I let them still use the card. I have the power to require another form of payment or let them use the card, so I use my discretion on a case-by-case basis. Potential biases could be age, appearance, suspiciousness, etc.
A case in which discretion was used against me that comes to mind would be the day of my senior prom. It was about 10 in the morning and I was driving to my friend's house to start doing our hair, nails, etc. I was pulled over on the way to her house coming into town where the speed limit changes from 25 to 15. I must not have slowed down in time because a cop pulled me over. The cop had the power to give me a speeding ticket but he used his discretion and decided to let me go with a warning. Considering the cop's daughter was in my graduating class at school and it was the day of prom, he decided not to give me a ticket.
One situation that has actually expanded to become a for and against discretion towards me.
Part One
One day my little cousin X and my little brother, wanted to go to the movies and my aunt was going to take us. I was eating at the time and then X and my little brother rush me to eat and hurry up so we could go. Another cousin of my, Z, was going to go, we were not running out of time but we wanted to get there at least fifteen minutes early, so in front of X, my little brother, and my aunt I told Z to hurry up, then Z gives me attitude tells a lie to her older sister W who tries to act tough and threaten me in front of my grandparents I brushed it off because in my family, when you threaten another family member that just makes you disgraceful and especially in front of your elders, my aunt, X, and my little brother agreed that I did nothing wrong to deserve that threat all I did was tell Z to hurry up, so that was used against me, just because Z is W's little sister and because Z told a lie. So for the rest of the time visiting she completely ignored me.
Part Two
My grandparents and I are in Mexico in a house that they own, these are the same grandparents in part one, I find out that my cousin Z is coming to stay over just for a little bit with us. Luckily I already had plans to go out all day and night with some of my other cousins and friends that I have back in a small pueblo in Mexico. Now, my cousin Z barely knows my grandmother's side of the family, so when she came over she expected me to talk to her and keep her company so I told my grandmother that because she was the cause of the disrespect that I have received from W, that I will just treat her the way treated me, like nothing. So when my cousins came along with some friends, I completely blew her off and left her on her own. So this went on for the rest of the entire summer, which was two months and a half. The following year when I saw her again, she no longer gave me her snoby attitude or treated me like nothing ever again because she knows how it feels now. So this discretion impacted me positively because Z's attitude changed towards me and the bias was my grudge and showing her how she is.
When I was in high school, I was leaving my boyfriend's house late at night. He lives in a different town than I did and I was running late. I was afraid I was going to be in trouble for being late when I showed up at home, so I decided to speed. The highway I was on had no other traffic on it so I figured no cops were out. I was wrong. I got pulled over not too far out of town. I had never been pulled over before, so when the cop came to my window, I was very nervous. I gave him my licence and my registration, but the registration I handed him was the expired one. Once I found the good insurance card, he looked at it and my licence and then gave them right back to me. He never took them to his car or anything. He told me how fast I was going (which was 73 in a 55!) and told me to slow down. I had told him previously that I was going to be late and I didnt want to get in trouble. The cop's discretion towards me was very positive and I know that I lucked out big time.
I work at a daycare that consists of 3,4, and 5 year olds. I know the kids very well and when they ask to use different toys, I know who I can trust. Some of the kids will take the toys and throw them across the room or use the toy to try and hurt other children or try and break the toy. The other kids will play with the toy the right way and have fun with it. I know which ones to not give the toys to, and as the caregiver, I have the discretion who to let play with the toys. The children have to earn their right to play with the toy.
When I used to work at a grocery store I was pretty well known there and could usually direct people to go somewhere and do some work. We would have to face the entire store and there were aisles that people wanted to avoid. If I didn't get along with them that well I would send them in to that aisle. If I liked working with them and I knew they did a good job and were quick workers I would have them work with me. I wasn't a manager but I was known to work hard and get the job done.
I was pulled over for cutting someone off in a city that is near where I live. The cop was behind me and the car I didn't see was to the right of me. The cop pulled me over and since I was young and I had really strict insurance about getting a ticket, and I didn't have anything else on my record he let me go with just a warning. He told next time to check my mirrors when I plan on switch lanes. It could have helped that I was crying when it happened! I was lucky though!
When I was in high school, I was the second highest ranked officer in our Army JROTC program. When we had someone act-out we were notified and it was up to the highest ranking officers to decide what would happen to that individual. We could do anything from give them a warning to actually kicking them out of the program. One instance that I had to deal with, we had a cadet who was habitually causing trouble in his classes. When we had a "boarding" (this was a sit down interrogation with the officers and individual) for this individual, he "acted" like he was sorry, but I knew in his nature that he didn't care one way or the other. When it was time for the officers to convene, everyone wanted to give him a warning, however I didn't feel that it was right. This cadet was a senior in high school and was a Staff Sergeant. This was poor conduct for this ranking individual especially since he was in charge as a squad leader in charge of freshman and sophmore cadets. So I decided that we needed to make an example of him. So for this individual, I demoted him to a private and told him that he could always work back up in the ranks. I told him that his conduct was unbecoming of a leader. Overall, the situation ended with him being kicked out of the program several months later. I don't want to sound rude, but apparently he didn't care after all.
I actually have to use quite a bit of discretion on the job. I am an assistant manager at Hy-Vee, and constantly run into situations where my discretion effects customers, and sometimes even the people around them. Theft, price differences, complaints, compliments, accidents, are incidents that occur randomly everyday that you can not anticipate.'
The last time I used my discretion was with a shoplifter. A 16 year old boy, was walking around the gas station with a backpack looking very suspicious, a customer then reported to the lady that was working the register of the theft. She confronted him and when she asked him to open his backpack, he had taken multiple items from the store. She asked him to wait while she called her supervisor. She then placed a call to my boss, he then told me to walk with him down to the gas station.
In the five minutes it took us to get down to the gas station, the boy had simply remained there very cooperatively. When my boss and myself arrived, he began to question the boy, asked him why he wasn't in school and who were his parents. After the boy didn't give up any information, my boss said he was going to phone the police, the boy began to get very antsy. They boy then began to flee hitting a customer unintentionally on the way out.
Our discretion came into play here. What were we to do? Peruse him? Stop him? Subdue Him? Let him go? We both knew that we could be held liable for any injury that occurred to the perpetrator, but in this case, we quickly decided to stop him from running since there was two of us and he was not armed. My bass picked up the boy and got him to the ground. I phoned police again and told them it was more urgent, a couple of customers even showed some OCB by helping my boss make sure the perp did not have a clear exit path. The police arrived and arrested the boy. The police informed us that, our actions were reasonable, but if it would have been an adult, it might not have been such a good idea because of the possibility of a weapon or extreme violent tendencies.
One time that I had discretion used for me in a postive way, was when I got pulled over. Even though I was a good ten miles over the speed limit, the cop did not give me a ticket or even a warning. I think, because I and my two other friends were teenage males driving a nicer car, (my parents) he may have thought that we were drinking. It was also late on a Friday night. However, we were just returning from a movie. He was very polite, and let me of easy.
During my high school years and the summers in between freshman and sophomore year I worker for a family owned Dairy Queen. I was the night time manager and held the second key to the store. I was constantly using my discretion on employees and customers. During my 6 almost 7 years there I cannot tell you how many new employees have come and gone in the store. There was one girl, honestly don’t remember her name, but she gave me a suspicious feeling from the start. I may have been quick to throw my first judgments out there, but they were proven right at the end of her first month of employment there. From the very beginning she was always stand-offish and a little rude. She was always having her friends stop in and out of the store until my boss, the owner, finally put a stop to it. Her last week there I was out in the back of the store lot where we keep all of our cups, lids, ECT. I had been out there for about 40 mins, organizing everything and getting everything stocked for you celebration month. I left to return to the store and noticed some of those girl’s friends leaving the store with cup holder’s full of ice cream. At that moment I felt very suspicious and basically ran into the store before they could take off and leave. I checked the register for the last items rang up and it happened to be a small cone. I knew then that she had given all that away. I went out to go retrieve all of the stuff and once I brought it back it I realized she gave away over 45 dollars worth of ice cream, between shakes, blizzards, packaged treats and just about everything else. I was furious. I knew that I could either do two things. One, make her pay for all of that or take it out of her next check, or two, fire her on the spot. I went for option two. I called my boss, told him everything, and he said to tell her to clock out and be off his property by the time he got out there. I knew she was no good for the store. Honestly, I can see giving away a free cone once in a while, I have done it myself. But over 45 dollars worth of ice cream is just ridiculous, and I honestly thought if she stayed there she would have been stealing money next. My discretion was to fire her and protect the store and the employees.
I have had a few instances when I could tell discretion was used on me. I think the most interesting one was when I was pulled over at 2 am on a country road. I had two other girls in the car with me, my older cousins. The cop told me that it was suspicious for us to be out that late at night. I knew instantly he thought we had been drinking or left the party. The real truth though, is that we had just left my grandma’s house because family was in town and we were driving back into town where I live to stay. I could tell he knew we were telling the truth when we told him this. For one, we were all in sweats and clearly were not leaving from a party. For two, we had Christmas presents all over the car. He followed us until we reach the pavement road to make sure we got off okay. He was very nice and told us to be careful this late at night driving home. He used his discretion with us.