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For decades, the doctrine of qualified immunity has protected law enforcement and other government officials from being held accountable when they violate individuals’ constitutional rights.
The rule specifically protects officials from personal consequences as long as they were acting in good faith.
The U.S. Supreme Court introduced the doctrine in 1967’s Pierson v. Ray to protect police officers from financial liability after they arrested 15 clergy members for breaching the peace after they attempted to use a segregated waiting room at a bus station.
The court revised and expanded the doctrine in 1982 by eliminating the requirement that officers must have acted in good faith and requiring that officers must have violated “clearly established law” to forgo immunity. However qualified immunity protections have developed over time to value precedent over good faith.
— Read on wdet.org/2024/07/09/how-police-misconduct-is-protected-through-qualified-immunity/
Tag: Police Reform
Police Reform Home Page | Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative
Plans from every New York police agency is available here. There are other resources at the website.
Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative
— Read on policereform.ny.gov/
Police Reform Home Page | Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative
Police Reform Home Page | Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative
— Read on policereform.ny.gov/
Wide variation in rates of police killings suggests unnecessary deaths
One in three police homicides could have been avoided without endangering police or the public, according to a study published in PNAS Nexus. Eight percent of all homicides of adult men in the United States are committed …
— Read on phys.org/news/2024-02-wide-variation-police-unnecessary-deaths.html
Justices uphold laws targeting homelessness with criminal penalties – SCOTUSblog
Justices uphold laws targeting homelessness with criminal penalties – SCOTUSblog
— Read on www.scotusblog.com/2024/06/justices-uphold-laws-targeting-homelessness-with-criminal-penalties/
Investing in Sergeants and Supervisors
Agencies nationwide and internationally are reporting challenges in maintaining the staffing of both sworn and professional support staff. There is little, if any, debate among law enforcement executives that recruiting challenges today are a major concern for agencies. As agencies struggle to revise and retool decades-long recruiting strategies to meet demand, their daily expectations only increase. Advancements in technology, such as AI, offer as many threats as opportunities. Policing the dark web is a recognized challenge in the profession, necessitating the evolution of specialists among our ranks (PERF, 2019). In a time where agency leaders need to focus on evolving with the nature of crime and leveraging technology, most are swimming in the quicksand of a seemingly constant recruiting loop.
In the “business” side of policing, the majority of agencies are not getting a good return on investment (ROI) from recruiting. The investment in attracting, selecting, and training personnel is multi-faceted and includes the impact of the media and political coverage of events such as Ferguson and Minneapolis, Defund the Police, the retirement bubble, and the preferences and values of Gen Z, where work-life balance is not historically associated with police work.
Removing Police Officers from Chicago Schools Trends and Outcomes
City Council considers proposed Minneapolis police union contract, pay raises, with public hearings
The 22% raises are critical to recruitment and retention, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Chief Brian O’Hara say. Opponents say the police department still lacks accountability.
— Read on m.startribune.com/public-to-weigh-in-as-city-council-considers-proposed-minneapolis-police-contract-pay-raises/600376063/
Reimagining Public Safety Impact Updates – National League of Cities
In February 2021, National League of Cities (NLC) launched the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force made up of local leaders from across the country.
— Read on www.nlc.org/resource/reimagining-public-safety-impact-updates/
Wasted Resources: The failures of stop-and-frisk in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA – The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has released Wasted Resources: The failures of stop-and-frisk in Philadelphia, a policy paper examining the illegal use of stop-and-frisk in Philadelphia over the past 15 years.
Nearly 15 years after the ACLU of Pennsylvania, a professor from Penn Law School, and the law firm Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin LLP filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia over its police department’s illegal and racist use of stop-and-frisk, the police tactic remains an area of great concern for civil libertarians.
In 2011, the city and the plaintiffs reached an agreement in Bailey v. City of Philadelphia that resulted in a consent decree that included an independent monitor of the city’s stop-and-frisk data. Last year, the Bailey consent decree led to a citywide program that deprioritized the use of stop-and-frisk for minor offenses. The ACLU of Pennsylvania and other criminal legal reform advocates consider this program a success.
“What this policy paper tells us is that stop-and-frisk has historically not offered a meaningful solution to violent crime,” said Mary Catherine Roper, civil rights attorney at Langer Grogan & Diver P.C. and former deputy legal director at the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “It also shows that stop-and-frisk has always been associated with racial disparities and racial targeting. There should be no discussion about increasing the use of this tactic until the Philadelphia police show that they can use it both legally and equitably. We urge city leadership to stop invoking this failed police tactic that impacts Black and brown Philadelphians as a political football.”
Future of Policing 