Leaving qualified immunity to the side, the limitless indemnification of police officers - literal moral hazard - is an even bigger issue, and taxpayers foot the bill (the people who are harmed deserve recourse of course! In fact, that& #39;s my job). https://twitter.com/GeeDee215/status/1280956776356208640">https://twitter.com/GeeDee215...
And in most states, municipalities are *required* to indemnify officers. But...what if they weren& #39;t and police officers were forced, like lawyers and doctors, to insure themselves against lawsuits? https://nypost.com/2020/07/07/bill-would-require-ny-cops-to-have-insurance-for-liability-suits/">https://nypost.com/2020/07/0...
It can sound sort of gross! "Wow, they can insure themselves against beating somebody up" but the thing is, most of the officers who commit the most heinous crimes we see are massive repeat offenders, who would be uninsurable, like a doctor with six malpractice suits.
In Chicago, 1% of officers are responsible for 33% of settlements. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-chicago-police-misconduct-settlements-met-20160129-story.html">https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-c... 82% of officers have never been named in a suit. It won& #39;t fix the world, but making the worst 5% of officers uninsurable would do a lot to reduce harm.