Re: Officer discretion

["Travis Tonn" <vart@turbonet.com>]

    I don't know on what information Mr. Danahy is basing his assertion that
teens are not being cited for consuming drugs or alcohol.  I went on a "ride
along" with the MPD last spring on a saturday night and witnessed two
citations being issued to youths.  One was for "Minor in Possesion" of
alcohol, and the other was for possesion of a controlled substance.  These
were both issued before the officer I was riding with had any idea that I
was the Chief's kid.  The MIP ticket was given at a party where there were
many people both under and over the drinking age.  I suppose the officer
could have crashed the party and issued many more citations for MIP and
"Contributing to a Minor", but he used discretion.  Rather than ruin
everybody's day, he ticketed the youth that was being beligerant and rude.
The other kids got the message and the original intention of discouraging
anti-social and illegal behavior was successful.  That is the proper
application of discretion.
-----Original Message-----
From: John Danahy <JDANAHY@turbonet.com>
To: Vision2020 <vision2020@moscow.com>
Date: Monday, January 17, 2000 9:52 AM
Subject: Officer discretion


>Chief Weaver certainly makes some valid points for "officer discretion",
but
>there are negative aspects of this too.  People, knowing they will not be
>ticketed, do not clear the sidewalks of snow leading the sidewalks to
become
>covered with ice.  This endangers the people using the sidewalks, which is
>why we have the ordinance requiring property owners clear their sidewalks.
>In this case, officer discretion then defeats the purpose of the ordinance
>and endangers the individuals who use the communities sidewalks.
>Another negative side to this I have seen is the relatively common practice
>of not ticketing teens consuming alcohol or drugs.  The community has spent
>thousands of tax dollars on a Dare program that teaches students the
>consequences of consuming alcohol or drugs, but the students quickly learn
>that "officer discretion" means there are no consequences.  Thus officer
>discretion works to undermine the very efforts of the same officers' work
in
>the Dare program.
>
>John
>
>John and Laurie Danahy
>jdanahy@turbonet.com
>
>