Ending Qualified Immunity?

Representative Ayanna Pressley and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, have introduced a joint bill that would end Qualified Immunity for police officers. What does Qualified Immunity do for police officers? It protects them from held responsible in civil lawsuits if they are found to have committed a crime when dealing with a member of the public, either in an arrest or abuse of power.

Qualified Immunity essentially will allow for the public to hold bad officers accountable for conduct that has been determined to be illegal or negligent. It’s a relatively mild manner to hold them accountable since police officers have never been held accountable on a personal level on any manner.

I think this is a good piece of legislation and I would support it if I was a member of Congress as I believe that police officers have too much leeway in making mistakes and not being held accountable as a result of them not being personally responsible for the mistakes or abuses they make.

I think police officers in this country are rarely held responsible for the actions and abuses they commit, one of the only professions that does not hold them accountable. Adding a layer where they will face some type of personal responsibility will force them to be more cautious and make less mistakes, since they could be held personally and financially responsible for abuses of power or negligence.

There are worries about this bill, in terms of what we define as an abuse of power, so I would be looking for ways to determine areas like that where I would lean towards more aggravated levels of abuse and not rely so much on negligence to ensure police officers are not targeted and are not held liable for questionable calls in tough situations.

A bill that holds them accountable but also recognizes the difficulty of the jobs they face will make this country better, so I would support this bill.