From Insty (in response to this bullshit):
“People entrusted with guns and the power of arrest need to have good judgment, and the ones who judge poorly need to be punished or sacked.”
…or horsewhipped, or beaten with chains, or…
I’m thinking of those “no-knock” warrants served at the incorrect address, where someone gets killed by overzealous policemen acting like Imperial stormtroopers.
I’m a Crank on the subject. I think that police who make basic errors like that should forfeit ‘qualified immunity’ and be prosecuted for manslaughter (at the least). I think Cops and prosecutors who break the law to get convictions should be subject to prosecution, and that in the case of capitol charges they should be charged with conspiracy to commit murder. I think that if cops do a dynamic entry on a dwelling, and the homeowner kills one or more of them and the warrant later proves unfounded UNLESS THEY CAN PROVE HE KNEW THEY WERE POLICE they police should be charged with murder under the ‘when a crime results in a death the criminals may be charges with the death’ theory.
That said, I also think that the vast majority of Black Lives Matter (*sotto voice* Splatter) ’causes’ are utter bushwa.
Like I said; a Crank.
‘Qualified Immunity’ starts from a reasonable place; cops can be – through no fault of their own – in a position to have to make quick choices with horrible consequences. They have to be able to do their jobs. The problem comes when ‘doing their jobs’ is extended to behaving like Eliot Ness in the old TV show. In most cases, there is no good reason to do a no-knock dynamic entry raid own some low level jerk who may be dealing weed. Or on the ‘last known address’ of some wanted jackass when the address is over five years old and nobody’s seen him near it (or looked). And, yes, in a dynamic entry raid, the cops have to make split second decisions with life or death consequences…but if they didn’t need to do the raid in the first place, they should get the protection .
“but if they didn’t need to do the raid in the first place, they should get the protection .”
I think you meant Should Not. It is the one place I don’t think they should have it at all.