Our custodians of the Law, the Police-Force, exercise their discretion every day. Some would say they have a markedly superior level of intelligence and training...
Actually they have had ten years of being undermined by plastic plods in England and Wales where a cheaper muppet dressed up in a pretendy Police uniform was the public face of Policing. Technically if you tought the Police were perhaps not that bright, you would find yourself plummeting new depths with a PCSO. Widely varying powers across the English regions mean the public have no idea what powers a PCSO has on meeting without a look on the local Police website. BTP have handcuffs and get off on using them, the Met don't have cuffs and are more civilianised whereas the ones at Gatwick are actually disguised in real Police uniforms and you have to read the small print to know what you are dealing with. The good news is though most of 'em are getting dumped as we can't afford this cosmetic, pretendy nonsense anymore. Ranting? Me?