There has been many that would like to do away with qualified immunity protection with regards to police officers due to the death of George Floyd along with the Black Lives movement. Let’s take a look at some of the bills that are being introduced.
Bills about Qualified Immunity
In June of 2020, the Ending of Qualified Immunity Act was introduced into House. This bill would essentially take away the defense of a qualified immunity in any sort of actions that were civil for deprivation of their rights. The defense that it
would eliminate would be that said person was acting in good faith or that it is believed that the person’s conduct was lawful during the time it was committed. Also that the privileges, immunities or rights were secured by our Constitution or that
our laws were not established clearly during the time of deprivation. Along with it is such that a defendant couldn’t have expected to understand at the time whether her or his own conduct was within accordance of the law.
Another bill that was introduced in February of 2021 is called the Police Qualified Immunity and Accountability Act. This bill says that any officer of the law who inflicts mental or physical injury to a person through an omission or act committed when
the officer is on duty is not exempt from any criminal or civil liability and is also held liable to whoever is injured. This bill will also have provisions such as an action brought against the employer of the officer and damages that could be awarded against an officer. Other provisions include reimbursements of settlements or even judgements paid by the employer of the officer along with revoking the pension of an officer under certain circumstances.
The Loss of Immunity Protection
Every jurisdiction is going to be different, but many senior officers aren’t waiting for a legal decision. They are heading for the door. No one wants to be a test case. Especially since all the training officers get about dangerous situation doesn’t include “stop and think if you are going to be sued first”. Not only do officers have new liability risks, so do departments. Everything is likely to be challenged in one of these cases – policies, training, legal authority, etc. So be sure to look at areas of your strategic plan that may need to change in terms of training, insurance, and policies.
