The Center for Justice and Democracy has just released an interesting and timely fact sheet – “Fact Sheet: Civil Lawsuits Lead to Better Safer Law Enforcement,” that shows that suing the police for acts of violence leads to better policing. The fact sheet contains a number of cases where “[lawsuits have] had a direct and positive impact on law enforcement, with settlements in individual cases leading to better training, safer policies and overall better practices.”

It is a good example of the ways that the tort system, and trial by jury benefits, not merely for the injured victim, but all of us. Unfortunately, as the fact sheet points out, “each case would be essentially barred by current legislation in Congress that would make it nearly impossible to sue the police, no matter how severe the constitutional violation.” [MORE] Nevertheless, the genocidal murder or justifiable homicide of non-whites, particularly Black males is major tool of the system of white supremacy/racism. [MORE]

From [CJ&D] As many recent examples show, the filing of criminal charges against police officers for excessive use of force is exceedingly rare, and even if charges are brought, juries are loath to convict them.[1] It is clear that if systemic problems have afflicted a police department’s use of force policies, criminal prosecutions may not be the best way to correct them.

On the other hand, successful civil lawsuits filed by victims have been a critical tool for police departments to identify and remedy potentially widespread abuses. As UCLA law professor Joanna C. Schwartz, a leading expert in police misconduct litigation, wrote in 2011,[2]

[A] small but growing group of police departments around the country have found innovative ways to analyze information gathered from lawsuits. They investigate lawsuit claims as they would civilian complaints, and they discipline, retrain or fire officers when the claims are substantiated. They look for trends in lawsuits suggesting problem officers, units and practices, and they review the evidence developed in the cases for personnel and policy lessons.

Indeed, lawsuits can have a direct and positive impact on law enforcement, with settlements in individual cases leading to better training, safer policies and overall better practices. The following are examples of recent cases that have had such a constructive result. Notably, each case would be essentially barred by current legislation in Congress that would make it nearly impossible to sue the police, no matter how severe the constitutional violation.[Each case would be essentially blocked by the “Back the Blue Act of 2017,” which provides, “if the police can show that the violation and resulting injuries were ‘incurred in the course of, or as a result of, or…related to, conduct by the injured party that, more likely than not, constituted a felony or a crime of violence…(including any deprivation in the course of arrest or apprehension for, or the investigation, prosecution, or adjudication of, such an offense),’ then the officers are liable only for out-of-pocket expenses. What’s more, the bill would bar plaintiffs from recovering attorneys fees in such cases.” Radley Balko, “A new GOP bill would make it virtually impossible to sue the police,” Washington Post, May 24, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/05/24/a-new-gop-bill-would-make-it-virtually-impossible-to-sue-the-police/]

Excessive force ended in death

Jeremy McDole, 28 and paralyzed from the waist down, was shot to death by four police officers on September 23, 2015 while sitting in his wheelchair. The officers had confronted McDole after receiving a 911 call about a man with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Bystander video showed an officer pointing a gun at McDole, screaming at him to drop his gun and put his hands up and then firing a shot at McDole when he started fidgeting in his chair and moving his hands toward his waist. According to a Delaware Department of Justice Report, the footage also clearly showed that “(1) Mr. McDole’s hands were on the arms of his wheelchair when he was shot, and (2) [the officer] gave Mr. McDole two commands to ‘show me your hands’ in the space of approximately two seconds before he discharged his shotgun,” an act that “fundamentally changed the dynamic of the incident involving Mr. McDole.” Less than one minute after the initial shot was fired, three other officers shot McDole 15 times, killing him.