Arrest Decisions: What Works for the Officer?

Citation

Levinson, J. (2010), "Arrest Decisions: What Works for the Officer?", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 400-402. https://doi.org/10.1108/13639511011044975

Certain arrests are mandatory, dictated either by the sheer severity of the crime committed or by compulsory instructions that leave no room for judgment. Other arrests, however, are not mandatory, leaving the police officer with discretion. Edith Linn has written an in‐depth analysis of discretionary arrests in New York City, examining why arrests are or are not made.

The uninitiated idealist might naïvely believe that the only factors in determining arrest are criminal justice considerations, as the police officer weighs issuing a warning versus making an arrest. In theory, if the officer feels that the crime was a one‐time occurrence due to unusual circumstances, he or she might well suffice with a warning to the perpetrator. If, on the other hand, he or she is convinced that he or she is dealing with a recidivist, reason would seem to say that an arrest is much more plausible.

Linn, a 21‐year veteran of NYPD, shows through a carefully prepared questionnaire administered to more than 500 police officers and subsequent analysis that the reality is not so idealistic. Personal questions of the arresting officer stemming from his private life are of major importance in the arrest decision.

In the period of this study, arrest procedures in the NYPD were cumbersome and often took some ten hours as police officers filled out redundant paperwork and had to cope with an unfriendly computer system. In a scenario of almost comical proportions if it were not for the seriousness of the subject, police officers filled out redundant paperwork and ferried forms from place to place. The basic study began in 2002. As Linn explains, by 2007 the average time to process an arrest had increased by almost an hour. At least one form still had to be filled out using a typewriter. Yet 30.3 percent of the questionnaire respondents admitted that they wanted to make an arrest during their shifts. The reasons are interesting as Linn explains.

How does the discretionary arrest system work? The author clarifies that, “From their first stationhouse roll call, New York City patrol officers begin to absorb the skills and rationales to control their arrest‐making”. The controlling factors in personal decisions seem to be a combination of “overtime, time conflicts, physical and psychological stressors, role conflicts, demands on women officers, tour differences, coworker support, arrest‐control methods, peer culture and attitudes, and management limitations”. The first two, overtime and time conflicts, play the most dominant roles; and, their influences on decision making are often intertwined.

Overtime and its related time demands constitute a factor in both positive and negative contexts:

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  Positive: when a pay incentive takes precedence (“At other periods, like the pre‐Christmas shopping season, nearly every officer is out scrambling for arrest overtime”).

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  Negative: when a personal schedule is disrupted (“Others talk about a class, a second job, or a party after work that would preclude their making an arrest”)/

One of the statistics that Linn cites is the curious anomaly that a disproportionate percentage of arrests are made toward the end of a shift – 25.1 per cent in the last hour of an eight‐hour shift. Why? Linn presents convincing arguments that some police officers use this to earn overtime wages paid for working during arrest processing hours. Linn's conclusion is straightforward: “This suggests that the desire for overtime influences last‐hour arrest‐making, particularly among those who make a lot of arrests”. In more general terms, “though most officers have a moderate need for arrest overtime, a distinct segment of participants rates their need for arrest overtime at the maximum level”.

By no means should it be inferred that police make last hour arrests for trivial or dubious offences. The author suggests no illegal police malfeasance. Rather, officers “hone their skills” or postpone arrests until the final hour of the shift.

Why does one not make a discretionary arrest? There is no babysitter for the children at home (“When my babysitter can spend the night, I will try to collar; if not, then I will try to avoid arrests”), or there is conflict with a key event such as the NFL Super Bowl. Another questionnaire response put the situation in very clear terms: “Making no arrests because of a second job or school is not completely recognized by the department, because they don't understand that you have a life outside this job”.

Linn calls one arrest consideration police “duress”. The need to write “difficult or lengthy narrative” is “often or always” a concern for 61.4 per cent of questionnaire respondents. The sometimes long wait outside the courtroom prior to testimony weighs on 59.9 per cent of the respondents; 60.8 per cent fear humiliation on the stand or subsequent reprimand.

One respondent had a rather unique reason not to arrest vagrants. On one occasion he arrested a lice‐infected vagrant, only to find that he, too, had become infected.

The variables involved in the discretionary arrest decision are different, since all police officers are individuals with their own needs and thoughts. What is clear, however, is that decisions are not restricted to the system needs of criminal justice. There is a very strong personal factor.

The picture painted by Linn is gloomy to say the least, but it should not be taken as a condemnation of NYPD. Rather, this book should be seen as a general wake‐up call for all departments to correct weak points in the system, some of which have already been dealt with in the NYPD. The book should be read carefully; it is invaluable insofar as it provides a perspective seldom considered – the personal factor in police decision‐making. As a consequence, there may be a need to develop accommodations in departments or ethical guidelines in addressing these previously ignored factors.