- Jun 6, 2007
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Washington definitely needs to pass into law a Police Reform bill but they absolutely do not and absolutely should not reduce qualified immunity (QI) for police officers which exist in the law today which essentially protects them from being sued from members of the public they interact with unless the officer clearly intended to violate the member of the public's civil rights. The compelling reasons why are that revoking qualified immunity will deter a lot of potentially good talented cops from becoming cops for fear of the them being sued as police officers and their families being dramatically hurt from the economic liability and secondly this change will cause police officer to hold back significantly on zealous efforts to fight crime and maintain law and order for fear of being sued. It is really anger inducing hearing these left wing politicians and pundits crow in the media about the country needs to revoke QI, O they say things like the taxpayers shouldn't pay for the bad officers abuse the bad officer should pay, this is such stupidity, bad officers don't have the net worth to pay these liabilities at issue here or they say things like we have to make the bad officers accountable yes we do it is called the criminal justice system, cops that break the law should be held accountable in the court system this should be the focus. These QI repealers are such opportunists they are out to make themselves look good at the expense of the country, they are unpatriotic, further actually in truth they really don't care about the African American and Hispanic communities they often feign they care about because a significant number of these communities have high crime problems and with what these repealers want to do they will be making the police force for these communities weaker thus less able to diminish these communities crime situation!
The American public hears all these so called do gooders step in front of the cameras and clamor about holding bad cops accountable but these people are dinosaur size cowards when it comes to taking on the police unions that with their collective bargaining agreements shield bad cops. This Police Reform bill needs to override all these union contracts and mandate that police department management can permanently terminate the employment of a cop for just cause and just cause includes an incident where a reasonable person would conclude the police officer used excessive force it matters nothing that the officer wasn't criminally charged for the behavior. In many of these police abuse cases in the public spotlight the cop at issue had a track record of excessive force he or she should never been on the job to commit the wrongful act. In the George Floyd case, Officer Chauvin that killed Mr. Floyd two to three years exhibited the same abusive behavior; there was a young man who was handcuffed so he was restrained and Officer Chauvin had the young man lying on his stomach with his knee pressed in his back near the neck area and I believe it was so bad that the young man passed out. On the Wendy's shooting in Atlanta where Officer Garret Rolfe shot and killed a fleeing Rayshard Brooks who pointed a taser gun at him. I am not saying that Officer Rolfe should be found guilty of a homicide in the heat of a huge struggle with an accused and an immediately following chase and the accused turns and points a taser gun in your vicinity you may not have the time to do a thorough analysis your self defense autopilot may just kick in so you fire. But what I am saying is that it was an unjust shooting and this officer Rolfe has a track record of a misuse of a firearm where he pointed a hand gun at a fleeing juvenile that stole a car and Officer Rolfe was in a police vehicle that pulled up beside the car and at that time the officer wrongfully pointed the gun at the car. The bottom line here is that the police review board should never had slated Garret Rolfe to be reinstated as a police officer he has a clear track record of excessive force. To this end of giving police commissioners unassailable power to terminate officers for just cause maybe make the enabling legislation be such that if a Commissioner sets up a Officer review panel with the majority of members be police officers and those members chosen by the commissioner as long as the police member candidate has a petition signed by like two dozen other officer supporting his or her appointment and the panel finds that their is just cause for the termination the review panel's decision amounts to a presumption the Commissioner met the law's standards and so the officer would have to show by clear and convincing evidence the Commission was wrong if the case went to court. The Geroge Floyd trial showed there is a lot of good cops out there that are against bad cop behavior.
The police reform legislation should mandate the Department of Justice maintain and currently update a training film for police offers instructing against bad police officer practices and an officer must view the film every two year or cannot work as an officer. These police abuse cases that the public regularly sees show incidences where the officer clearly violated what should be a bright line rule. Like the one case where the defendant was resisting arrest behind the wheel of a car and the officer thought she had a tazer in her hand but actually had a handgun and fired and killed the guy; well there should be a bright line rule for a police officer to never fire a tazer into the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle because the office cannot control the aim of the gun that well it would be very easy in that situation to taze someone in the face which could cause eye impairment to the suspect. The subject of an arrest warrant in North Carolina who was shot in a car while fleeing; there should be a bright line rule that an officer never shoots a fleeing suspect in car from behind unless the accused is known to be on a killing spree. The young kid in Chicago who was shot in a dark alley after the officer told him to drop the gun; officer should be trained that if they cannot see an armed suspect well because it is dark to run for cover don't fire if you can at least tell the suspect does not have his hands pointed toward you!
The police reform legislation should recognize that policing in America today because there is so much violence in America burns police officers out puts them in a state where they should no longer be on the job. The federal government should set up a program where it offers five slots for each state per year where if the officer has been on the job for five years and they are under fifty years of age the Federal government will pay their salary and offer their same benefits for two years so they can transition to some other profession they can go to school, they can try temporary jobs whatever. The slots could be filled by lottery. If the former officer works he would have to report his or her working income every two weeks and his Federal government compensation would be reduced accordingly, just like unemployment compensation. There is one key condition to the program after nine months in the program your leaving the cop profession is final, no going back, the program isn't a prolonged vacation program for cops!
The American public hears all these so called do gooders step in front of the cameras and clamor about holding bad cops accountable but these people are dinosaur size cowards when it comes to taking on the police unions that with their collective bargaining agreements shield bad cops. This Police Reform bill needs to override all these union contracts and mandate that police department management can permanently terminate the employment of a cop for just cause and just cause includes an incident where a reasonable person would conclude the police officer used excessive force it matters nothing that the officer wasn't criminally charged for the behavior. In many of these police abuse cases in the public spotlight the cop at issue had a track record of excessive force he or she should never been on the job to commit the wrongful act. In the George Floyd case, Officer Chauvin that killed Mr. Floyd two to three years exhibited the same abusive behavior; there was a young man who was handcuffed so he was restrained and Officer Chauvin had the young man lying on his stomach with his knee pressed in his back near the neck area and I believe it was so bad that the young man passed out. On the Wendy's shooting in Atlanta where Officer Garret Rolfe shot and killed a fleeing Rayshard Brooks who pointed a taser gun at him. I am not saying that Officer Rolfe should be found guilty of a homicide in the heat of a huge struggle with an accused and an immediately following chase and the accused turns and points a taser gun in your vicinity you may not have the time to do a thorough analysis your self defense autopilot may just kick in so you fire. But what I am saying is that it was an unjust shooting and this officer Rolfe has a track record of a misuse of a firearm where he pointed a hand gun at a fleeing juvenile that stole a car and Officer Rolfe was in a police vehicle that pulled up beside the car and at that time the officer wrongfully pointed the gun at the car. The bottom line here is that the police review board should never had slated Garret Rolfe to be reinstated as a police officer he has a clear track record of excessive force. To this end of giving police commissioners unassailable power to terminate officers for just cause maybe make the enabling legislation be such that if a Commissioner sets up a Officer review panel with the majority of members be police officers and those members chosen by the commissioner as long as the police member candidate has a petition signed by like two dozen other officer supporting his or her appointment and the panel finds that their is just cause for the termination the review panel's decision amounts to a presumption the Commissioner met the law's standards and so the officer would have to show by clear and convincing evidence the Commission was wrong if the case went to court. The Geroge Floyd trial showed there is a lot of good cops out there that are against bad cop behavior.
The police reform legislation should mandate the Department of Justice maintain and currently update a training film for police offers instructing against bad police officer practices and an officer must view the film every two year or cannot work as an officer. These police abuse cases that the public regularly sees show incidences where the officer clearly violated what should be a bright line rule. Like the one case where the defendant was resisting arrest behind the wheel of a car and the officer thought she had a tazer in her hand but actually had a handgun and fired and killed the guy; well there should be a bright line rule for a police officer to never fire a tazer into the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle because the office cannot control the aim of the gun that well it would be very easy in that situation to taze someone in the face which could cause eye impairment to the suspect. The subject of an arrest warrant in North Carolina who was shot in a car while fleeing; there should be a bright line rule that an officer never shoots a fleeing suspect in car from behind unless the accused is known to be on a killing spree. The young kid in Chicago who was shot in a dark alley after the officer told him to drop the gun; officer should be trained that if they cannot see an armed suspect well because it is dark to run for cover don't fire if you can at least tell the suspect does not have his hands pointed toward you!
The police reform legislation should recognize that policing in America today because there is so much violence in America burns police officers out puts them in a state where they should no longer be on the job. The federal government should set up a program where it offers five slots for each state per year where if the officer has been on the job for five years and they are under fifty years of age the Federal government will pay their salary and offer their same benefits for two years so they can transition to some other profession they can go to school, they can try temporary jobs whatever. The slots could be filled by lottery. If the former officer works he would have to report his or her working income every two weeks and his Federal government compensation would be reduced accordingly, just like unemployment compensation. There is one key condition to the program after nine months in the program your leaving the cop profession is final, no going back, the program isn't a prolonged vacation program for cops!
