A POLICE force should have freedom to implement the spirit of the law, according to the Deputy Garda Commissioner, Mr Patrick Moran.
Speaking at the opening of the conference yesterday morning, Mr Moran said the strict application of the letter of the law could lead to greater injustices.
"Today, the function of policing is constantly being revised and remodelled and there is a growing recognition that discretion is not only necessary and desirable, but that it should openly be acknowledged, structured and controlled," he said.
The idea of judicial discretion dated back to ancient Greece, where it was acknowledged that a simple law was not always adequate to deal with complex crimes.
He said there was a need to strike a balance between interpreting the law using the duties and rights of a police force and public values of freedom and privacy.
The criminal justice system was not always the best way to deal with a criminal and it might be more efficient to direct an offender to some other social service.
Police discretion had been identified as the power to consider all the circumstances of the case, to determine whether legal action was needed and if so what kind of legal action.
He said the public acceptance and trust in police forces was secured when they were recognised as "pursuing worthwhile ends in a morally acceptable manner".
However, the idea of police discretion was ill defined and rarely open to review or control. "To confine the police role merely to enforcing the letter of the law would he a failure to exercise it properly."