STREET-LEVEL DISCRETION IN POLICING

This article examines the consequences of a clash between police officers' expectations of street-level discretion and supervisors' constraints on such discretion. Two hypothesized consequences are examined: police officer alienation from the citizenry and police officer disaffection with the department. Both attitudinal data (from a survey of police officers) and behavioral data (from direct observation of police officers on patrol) are used. The data show some support for the hypothesis that disaffection with the department is a consequence of the discretion-constraint clash, but no support of alienation from the citizenry as a consequence. Rather, the data suggest that officers back away from discretion in situations where the public is perceived to be hostile and where supervisors reinforce that perception by active monitoring of police-citizen encounters.