A decision tree is a great way to determine a course of action and possible outcomes associated with an officer’s decision. Today everyone has a camera and decisions are reviewed, questioned, and judged by those who have no idea what happened. In Ch. 5 you learned about tactical decision-making and scenario-based training for new officers. Discretion is a major part of a police officer’s role and the decision he or she makes in a split second can create many different outcomes and consequences.
Watch the Decision Tree video located in the University Library.
Read the Sidebar 11-1, “Police Discretion in an Unfolding Disturbance Call” in the “New Perspectives on Police Discretion” section of Ch. 11, “Police Discretion,” of The Police in America.
Consider the different stages the officer is faced with in the scenario.
Select stage four, five, or six and review the officer response provided.
Create a 10- to 12-slide Microsoft PowerPoint® presentation in which you:
Describe possible decision points that the officer may have faced.
Explain how one decision the officer could have made modeled abuse of discretion or modeled positive use of discretion.
Describe factors that may limit the officer’s discretion.
Explain at least three internal and external mechanisms police departments use for accountability.
Incorporate one citation/reference from the course textbook and at least two academic citations/references outside of your textbook in your presentation. An academic reference is a source from Electronic Reserve Readings, UOP Library, Google Scholar, eBook Collection, or course reading assignments.
Provide examples to support your points in the presentation.
Presentation should include a title slide, introduction slide, research slides, conclusion slide, and a reference slide. (The Title Slide and Reference Slide do NOT count towards the slide count requirement.) A 10 – 12 slide PowerPoint Presentation should average between 800 – 1,000 words of research.
List major points on the slides using bullet points which are limited to approximately five lines; approximately five words per bulleted item. Add a paragraph (approximately 100 words) to the speaker notes to support the bullet points with a citation to give credit to the source. (See Rubric) Speaker notes are not required on the Title or Reference Slide.
Microsoft Support has some great instructions and a video on how to create speaker notes for PowerPoint.
Include videos, audio, photos, diagrams, or graphs as appropriate.
