Officer Smith is patrolling a city park at night. He comes across a man and woman kissing in a parked car, and tells them that it is not legal to be in the park after dark and that they need to move along. Later, he comes across two men in a parked car. Instead of telling them to move on, Officer Smith writes a citation for the driver. By allowing the first couple to leave without being cited, despite the fact that technically they were guilty of an infraction, the Officer Smith was exhibiting .a. normative action
b. malfeasance
c. discretion
d. an ethical dilemma

He was exhibiting letter C. discretion.

Explanation:

Discretion is present in all levels of law enforcement. It refers to an authority's acting according to his own judgment, adapting his decision to each situation. In the case described in the question, Officer Smith could have very well punished all the people involved equally, since they were all technically guilty of the same infraction. He may, however, have used his own judgment to assess the differences between the cases. The man and woman who were kissing were less likely to be in the park to commit a crime then the two men, who could very well be drug users or even thieves. Since there is no way to know for sure, discretion is quite subjective, which leads many to see it as unfair.

answer; the correct answer is (ethics);

what are the answer choices?