Tuesday, June 16, 2020
F.A.Q. on police reforms
I've been talking to a lot of people-- family, friends, people who looked up my phone number, the media-- about police reforms. I'm thrilled people are talking about it, because it is a really important subject which lies at the core of some of the discussions we are having now about race.
I do find that people are having some confusion over some of the basics, so let's cover some of those today.
Q: Does limited immunity protect police officers from being charged when they kill someone?
A: No. Limited immunity is an important concept that need reform, but it is limited to civil law. In short, limited immunity gives individual police officers some protection from being sued for damages by people they have hurt in some way. It affects the way citizens can make tort claims.
Q: But don't police officers have permission to shoot people in some situations?
A: Many jurisdictions do give police officers an expanded ability to legally use lethal force, usually in situations where the officer acts in self-defense, or someone is escaping custody and may hurt others. For example, here is the provisions of MN 609.066:
Subd. 2.Use of deadly force.
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 609.06 or 609.065, the use of deadly force by a peace officer in the line of duty is justified only when necessary:
(1) to protect the peace officer or another from apparent death or great bodily harm;
(2) to effect the arrest or capture, or prevent the escape, of a person whom the peace officer knows or has reasonable grounds to believe has committed or attempted to commit a felony involving the use or threatened use of deadly force; or
(3) to effect the arrest or capture, or prevent the escape, of a person whom the officer knows or has reasonable grounds to believe has committed or attempted to commit a felony if the officer reasonably believes that the person will cause death or great bodily harm if the person's apprehension is delayed.
Q: Why do police officers get away with killing people so often, then?
A: Like many things in the law, the answer lies not in the statute so much as in the use of discretion by actors within the system-- for example, the discretion of a prosecutor or grand jury not to charge an officer, or the discretion of a jury to acquit. All of those actors are inclined to believe a police officer when they say they were exercising self-defense-- for example, by claiming that the victim was trying to grab the officer's gun. That, of course, may change as more people see videos that show police officers using lethal force in situations where it is not justified as self-defense.
