A Fuzzy Theory Approach to Modeling Field Police Officers’ Decision-Making on “Necessity of Arrest” and Proposals for Reforming the Flagrant Offender Arrest System

This study examines the gap between legal standards and field judgments in flagrant offender arrest as established under Article 212 of the Criminal Procedure Act.Although the law permits warrantless arrest when a person is caught in the act, court precedents have imposed an additional requirement for the necessity of arrest -specifically, the presence of flight risk and the potential for evidence tampering.In practice, however, police officers must also consider factors such as crime suppression, victim protection, and public safety, which often lead to discrepancies between judicial interpretations and on-site decisions.By applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the study quantifies the relative importance of these factors as perceived by law enforcement professionals.A fuzzy inference system is then employed to model the decision-making process, effectively capturing subjective judgments' inherent ambiguity and uncertainty.The results indicate that while flight risk is the most critical factor, the need for crime suppression also plays a significant role in field decisions.These findings suggest that current legal criteria may not fully reflect the complex realities of on-site law enforcement, potentially causing field officers to adopt indirect or overly cautious approaches in arrest situations.The research highlights the need for more flexible and comprehensive arrest standards.