Above the Law by Ben Cohen;

Author:Ben Cohen;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: POL000000
ISBN: 9781682192559
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 3)
Published: 2021-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

– Outside of Dallas, Texas, five officers fired seventeen shots at a bicyclist who was 100 yards away, killing him, in a case of mistaken identity.

– In Heber City, Utah, an officer threw to the ground an unarmed man he had pulled over for a cracked windshield, leaving the man with brain damage.

– In Prince George’s County, Maryland, an officer shot a man in a mental health crisis who was stabbing himself and trying to slit his own throat.

More recently, the courts granted immunity to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department narcotics officers—including all nine members of an elite team—who in February 2020 were charged with stealing more than $1.4 million in seized drug cash and using much of that money to buy homes, luxury cars, jewelry, and stocks. The officers’ attorneys asserted—and the courts agreed—that because there was no exact precedent, the narcotics officers could not be expected to know that using more than $500,000 in stolen funds to buy cars, boats, homes, and other valuable assets was illegal.

Law enforcement’s position on limiting or eliminating qualified immunity is that it is a necessary safe harbor in a fast-paced, often dangerous job. Police unions and law enforcement agencies argue that if the doctrine is eliminated to the point where there is no threshold and every case goes forward, police officers will start to hang back and avoid risky situations, even if it means criminal behavior goes unchallenged. They also predict that it will be harder to recruit enough officers without the protection of qualified immunity.

In my thirty-five-year law enforcement career, I can’t recall two similar critical incidents I was ever involved in. In the heat of the moment, I brought to bear all of my training on tactics and the legal limits of my actions. I thought about what I needed to do to neutralize the public safety threat, what I needed to do to ensure that I would make it home that night, and what I could and could not do to address the situation that confronted me. Not once did I think while handling the incidents, Do I have qualified immunity if I do this? or Should I do this instead, since the facts of this situation match almost exactly a case that happened two years ago?

Which brings us to my main point for why limiting qualified immunity is so important for any meaningful criminal justice reform, and for how we provide public safety in today’s world.

The threats of lawsuits and holding police officers truly accountable for their actions will pressure their agencies and the people who lead them to properly train their officers, because in many agencies, training has not kept pace with the law enforcement needs of our communities. In addition to having to make split-second decisions on incomplete information with potentially life-or-death consequences, officers are required to handle medical emergencies, intervene in domestic-violence scenarios, and talk people through and out of crisis. Yet our training is shorter and less effective than for far less critical careers.

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