Arrest Discretion of Police Officers: The Impact of Varying Organizational Structures (Criminal Justice: Recent Scholarship)

Groeneveld studies the conceptual and fundamental aspects of organizational influence over police discretion in field arrests. He finds that street-level discretion by field officer-the basis of community policing--can, and is, significantly affected by organizational structures. Most departments attempt to limit or at least delimit officer discretion in making arrests. Arrest issues are no less critical to policing than those pertaining to the use of deadly force. A comparatively small number of arrests results in any appreciable prosecution, and an even smaller number in conviction. The arrest decision process has represented a major gap in the conceptual area of discretion control, especially at the organizational level of scrutiny.

Richard F. Groeneveld is a police commander and has been with the Phoenix Police Department for over 26 years. Currently, the director of the Police Department Crime Laboratory, he has worked patrol, undercover narcotics, property investigations, the tactical response unit, the police academy, and the computer services bureau. A native of Phoenix, Arizona, he is married and has two daughters.