Exceeding and abuse of police authority in the shadow of police discretionary power

Abstract

Complex phenomena such as violations and abuse of police powers require a multifactorial approach in order to explain their causality. Since it is about behaviors that usually represent a violation of the norms of criminal law, we based the explanation of their causality on a criminological analysis of factors of violation and abuse of police powers. As the basis of our explanation we used classification of criminogenic factors that was once developed by Milan Milutinovic by graduating factors according to their causal impact and intensity of activity, thereby distinguishing the causes, conditions and motives of criminal behavior. It seemed to us that this particular classification can best express the etiological complexity of violation and abuse of police powers. In addition, the explanation of multifactorial conditionality of these phenomena is based on the example of the use of discretionary evaluation of police action, through which application all three levels of causality are exposed. Namely, discretionary evaluation, in itself, is a 'condition' since it enables or facilitates the occurrence of violation and abuse of powers. The fact of having a certain discretionary right gives officers an opportunity to break the rules, because it gives them the opportunity to make their decisions based on illegitimate criteria. Therefore discretionary evaluation enables the effect of direct 'causes' of violation and abuse of police powers. Police decisions are usually caused by noble 'cause', which is embodied in the realization of police function. In this regard, police officers justify all their actions, regardless of whether they are legitimate and legal or they represent violations and abuse of powers, giving this reason and explaining that they were motivated by the achievement of 'a noble aim' when making decisions. But there are infrequently situations where police officers abuse the discretionary power to achieve personal interests, adapting their decisions to this reason. At the beginning of the paper we focused our attention on some general characteristics of the discretionary powers of police officers, after which we critically examined the impact of certain factors on the process of discretionary decision-making of police officers, especially pointing out their contribution to violation and abuse of powers. In the conclusion of the paper we focused on the specific recommendations and suggestions on how to prevent and suppress errors in the application of discretionary evaluation and discretionary abuse of power, which result in violations and abuse of police powers.

Prekoračenja i zloupotrebe policijskih ovlašćenja su pojave izuzetno složene kauzalnosti čije objašnjenje zahteva multi-faktorski pristup. Činjenica da ova ponašanja uglavnom predstavljaju krivična dela pruža nam mogućnost da njihovu uslovljenost analiziramo iz kriminološkog ugla. Pri tom nam se čini kako se ta etiološka kompleksnost možda najbolje može izraziti na primeru diskrecione moći policije, kroz čiju primenu se eksponiraju sva tri nivoa kauzalnosti (uzroci, uslovi i povodi), prekoračenja i zloupotreba ovlašćenja. Nakon definisanja nekih opštih obeležja diskrecione moći policajaca, naša pažnja biće usmerena na uticaj pojedinih faktora na proces diskrecionog odlučivanja, gde ćemo posebno ukazati na njihov doprinos prekoračenju i zloupotrebi ovlašćenja. U zaključku rada su istaknute određene preporuke i predlozi kako da se spreče greške u primeni diskrecione ocene i suzbiju zloupotrebe diskrecione moći, koje rezultuju prekoračenjem i zloupotrebom policijskih ovlašćenja.