Qualified Immunity

[taki]

Do you believe that the use of a Qualified Immunity defense should provide cover for a police officer who clearly neglected rule of law under the guise of just doing his job?

I see a lot of somewhat dubious outcomes when it pertains to law enforcement and the people in America and it seems like little or nothing is done to correct the issues at hand. In just about every case, Qualified Immunity is cited as the reason citizens can do nothing.

 

[Onthemark]

It's absolutely INSANE that law enforcement could get away with this. A police officer thought he was shooting someone with a taser and it was actually his gun and killed the person and no charges stuck and no jail time.

 

[taki]

I agree. And yet police officials say that qualified immunity is necessary to keep them from being constantly sued for doing what is necessary in the pursuit of their jobs. I'm not so sure it is necessary. It might slow things down. Might require the need for more police officers because of the intensive legal reviews that would start occurring. But as for being necessary, I don't think so. I believe it makes life easier for police but unfairly restricts citizen rights to assume that criminal activity will be prosecuted no matter who the perp is.

On the other hand, some crooked cops are getting prosecuted for their actions. Public attention is starting to focus on these issues and their opinions are not agreeing with established precedent.

 

[trose]

Cops tend to get away with whatever they do on duty, from speeding on the freeway without cause to strangling people on the street. Unfortunately some cops are racist or have some other reason and hurt or kill innocent people. I think that qualified immunity is not necessary to protect cops, they should be help accountable for their actions just like any other citizen.

 

[BryanOnAWire]

I agree that they should be held accountable, but to a degree. It's as simple as, "What did the situation call for? And what did you do?" If you used force unnecessary for the situation, you should absolutely be held responsible, even if it was an accident.