Enforcing Traffic Laws: Police Officers as Judges

Analyzes the maneuvering room or "discretionary power" of police officers, noting that their responsibilities require that they observe, record, report, transmit, & make decisions. Drawing on ethnographic observations & interview data from about 20 respondents & analysis of cohorts of violations, the necessity of their making case-by-case decisions when dealing with traffic violations & other duties is addressed, & questions are raised about what police think is "fair" & how they make decisions. A theoretical methodology featuring a bottom-up approach is used to address the issue of public policy implementation with an emphasis on policy autonomy on the job. How the sociologies of police activity & production of traffic safety may be combined is described. 12 References. Adapted from the source document.