Police Test 11-13
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1. According to Kenneth C. Davis, discretion is defined as
A. a decision based on sound public policy.
B. a decision by a judge based upon all the facts submitted by an individual.
C. an official action by a criminal justice official based on that individual's
judgement about the best course of action.
D. reinforcement of law with a good decision.: C. an official action by a criminal justice official
based on that individual's judgement about the best course of action.
2. Discretion increases as one moves down the police organization. For this
reason, patrol officers have been described as
A. process bureaucrats.
B. street-level bureaucrats.
C. first-level judges.
D. street-level justices.: B. street-level bureaucrats.
3. In the context of policing, _____ exercise the greatest amount of discretion.
A. chief inspectors
B. patrol officers
C. sheriffs
D. detectives: B. patrol officers
4. Vincent tells the police that he heard strange noises in his home at midnight.
Vincent believes that something was stolen in his house, but the police find
that nothing was missing in his home. The police also find no evidence for such
a crime and hence do not complete the report for it. This action of the police
exemplifies
A. the denial of due process.
B. an under-enforcement of the law.
C. a positive use of discretion.
D. the code of silence.: A. the denial of due process.
, Police Test 11-13
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5. _____ are the most common form of contact between the police and the
public.
A. Buy-and-bust operations
B. Narcotics raids
C. Sting operations
D. Traffic stops: D. Traffic stops
6. The probability of arrest and officer use of force increases when a suspect is
A. wanted by law enforcement.
B. socially rejected by law enforcement.
C. disrespectful toward the police.
D. offends others in the presence of the police.: C. disrespectful toward the police.
7. A police officer is most likely to make an arrest when
A. the crime is committed in a high-income area.
B. the suspect is a vagrant in a skid row.
C. the offender and the victim are strangers.
D. the preference of the victim is to save the suspect.: C. the offender and the victim are
strangers.
8. The quality of supervision in a police department depends heavily on
A. the disciplinary procedures for supervisors in the department.
B. the neighborhood where supervisors work.
C. the span of control for supervisors in the department.
D. the number of complaints supervisors receive from their subordinates.: C. the
span of control for supervisors in the department.
9. Which of the following is an extra-legal factor affecting a police officer's
discretion in arresting a suspect?
A. the seriousness of the crime committed by the suspect
B. the preference of the victim to save the suspect
C. the marital relationship between the suspect and the police officer
, Police Test 11-13
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D. the evidence of a weapon on the suspect: C. the marital relationship between the suspect and
the police officer
10. Historically, the police have denied that they exercise discretion, claiming
instead they fully enforce all laws. This is known as the
A. political discretionary culture.
B. myth of full enforcement.
C. official department policy.
D. politically correct philosophy.: B. myth of full enforcement.
11. The exercise of police discretion through written policy is called
A. department philosophy.
B. bureaucratic controls.
C. administrative rulemaking.
D. profession downward judgment.: C. administrative rulemaking.
12. A police department collects and codifies its rules and policies through a(n)
A. standard operating procedure manual.
B. rules and regulations manual.
C. code operations book.
D. administrative guide to patrol.: A. standard operating procedure manual.
13. While addressing incidents, such as domestic violence, that are largely hid-
den from public view, police officers can more easily ignore policy and the
reporting requirement. This type of incident is called
A. course-of-action work.
B. sub-action police work.
C. low-level work.
D. low-visibility work.: D. low-visibility work.
14. One factor that most contributes to the exercise of discretion is the police
A. visibility.
B. work environment.
, Police Test 11-13
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C. public expectation.
D. budget pressures.: B. work environment.
15. Stephen Mastrofski and colleagues investigated the extent to which citizens
comply with requests from police officers. What was a finding of this investiga-
tion?
A. Citizens often did not comply with officer requests.
B. Failure to comply did not affect the officer's decision to arrest.
C. An arrest resulted in a large majority of the failure-to-comply cases.
D. Citizens complied with officer requests most of the time.: D. Citizens complied with
officer requests most of the time.
16. What is the purpose of controlling police discretion?
A. to enhance citizen satisfaction
B. to prevent abuse of police authority
C. to efficiently combat neighborhood disorder
D. to prevent an increase in the crime rate: B. to prevent abuse of police authority
17. Joseph Goldstein conducted one of the first studies of police discretion in
which he concluded that
A. discretion typically does not pose a problem.
B. discretion is effective and necessary.
C. police discretion is illegal and should be abolished.
D. police discretion efficiently allocates limited police resources: C. police discretion is
illegal and should be abolished.
18. According to the text, which of the following is a type of discretion that has
been argued about in the context of abolishing police discretion?
A. use of informants
B. mandatory sentencing systems
C. sting operations and arrests
D. plea bargaining: D. plea bargaining
Study online at https://quizlet.com/_5bqpfd
1. According to Kenneth C. Davis, discretion is defined as
A. a decision based on sound public policy.
B. a decision by a judge based upon all the facts submitted by an individual.
C. an official action by a criminal justice official based on that individual's
judgement about the best course of action.
D. reinforcement of law with a good decision.: C. an official action by a criminal justice official
based on that individual's judgement about the best course of action.
2. Discretion increases as one moves down the police organization. For this
reason, patrol officers have been described as
A. process bureaucrats.
B. street-level bureaucrats.
C. first-level judges.
D. street-level justices.: B. street-level bureaucrats.
3. In the context of policing, _____ exercise the greatest amount of discretion.
A. chief inspectors
B. patrol officers
C. sheriffs
D. detectives: B. patrol officers
4. Vincent tells the police that he heard strange noises in his home at midnight.
Vincent believes that something was stolen in his house, but the police find
that nothing was missing in his home. The police also find no evidence for such
a crime and hence do not complete the report for it. This action of the police
exemplifies
A. the denial of due process.
B. an under-enforcement of the law.
C. a positive use of discretion.
D. the code of silence.: A. the denial of due process.
, Police Test 11-13
Study online at https://quizlet.com/_5bqpfd
5. _____ are the most common form of contact between the police and the
public.
A. Buy-and-bust operations
B. Narcotics raids
C. Sting operations
D. Traffic stops: D. Traffic stops
6. The probability of arrest and officer use of force increases when a suspect is
A. wanted by law enforcement.
B. socially rejected by law enforcement.
C. disrespectful toward the police.
D. offends others in the presence of the police.: C. disrespectful toward the police.
7. A police officer is most likely to make an arrest when
A. the crime is committed in a high-income area.
B. the suspect is a vagrant in a skid row.
C. the offender and the victim are strangers.
D. the preference of the victim is to save the suspect.: C. the offender and the victim are
strangers.
8. The quality of supervision in a police department depends heavily on
A. the disciplinary procedures for supervisors in the department.
B. the neighborhood where supervisors work.
C. the span of control for supervisors in the department.
D. the number of complaints supervisors receive from their subordinates.: C. the
span of control for supervisors in the department.
9. Which of the following is an extra-legal factor affecting a police officer's
discretion in arresting a suspect?
A. the seriousness of the crime committed by the suspect
B. the preference of the victim to save the suspect
C. the marital relationship between the suspect and the police officer
, Police Test 11-13
Study online at https://quizlet.com/_5bqpfd
D. the evidence of a weapon on the suspect: C. the marital relationship between the suspect and
the police officer
10. Historically, the police have denied that they exercise discretion, claiming
instead they fully enforce all laws. This is known as the
A. political discretionary culture.
B. myth of full enforcement.
C. official department policy.
D. politically correct philosophy.: B. myth of full enforcement.
11. The exercise of police discretion through written policy is called
A. department philosophy.
B. bureaucratic controls.
C. administrative rulemaking.
D. profession downward judgment.: C. administrative rulemaking.
12. A police department collects and codifies its rules and policies through a(n)
A. standard operating procedure manual.
B. rules and regulations manual.
C. code operations book.
D. administrative guide to patrol.: A. standard operating procedure manual.
13. While addressing incidents, such as domestic violence, that are largely hid-
den from public view, police officers can more easily ignore policy and the
reporting requirement. This type of incident is called
A. course-of-action work.
B. sub-action police work.
C. low-level work.
D. low-visibility work.: D. low-visibility work.
14. One factor that most contributes to the exercise of discretion is the police
A. visibility.
B. work environment.
, Police Test 11-13
Study online at https://quizlet.com/_5bqpfd
C. public expectation.
D. budget pressures.: B. work environment.
15. Stephen Mastrofski and colleagues investigated the extent to which citizens
comply with requests from police officers. What was a finding of this investiga-
tion?
A. Citizens often did not comply with officer requests.
B. Failure to comply did not affect the officer's decision to arrest.
C. An arrest resulted in a large majority of the failure-to-comply cases.
D. Citizens complied with officer requests most of the time.: D. Citizens complied with
officer requests most of the time.
16. What is the purpose of controlling police discretion?
A. to enhance citizen satisfaction
B. to prevent abuse of police authority
C. to efficiently combat neighborhood disorder
D. to prevent an increase in the crime rate: B. to prevent abuse of police authority
17. Joseph Goldstein conducted one of the first studies of police discretion in
which he concluded that
A. discretion typically does not pose a problem.
B. discretion is effective and necessary.
C. police discretion is illegal and should be abolished.
D. police discretion efficiently allocates limited police resources: C. police discretion is
illegal and should be abolished.
18. According to the text, which of the following is a type of discretion that has
been argued about in the context of abolishing police discretion?
A. use of informants
B. mandatory sentencing systems
C. sting operations and arrests
D. plea bargaining: D. plea bargaining
