Police Officer Liability Issues

[kathleenmarie]

Hi All.

Just joined this site to see if I could find some statistics on law enforcement liability. These days it seems like people sue at the drop of a hat and I wondered just how vulnerable police officers are and what technologies are available to help you combat unwarranted lawsuits. Also, what happens when a charge is made against an officer. Is the officer pulled off police duty while things get sorted out? I'm pretty ignorant about all this, but would sure like to know more about what officers are up against and what technologies they have or would like to have available to them to help protect them and their office or precinct. Would really appreciate any officer's insight. Thanks for taking the time to read this and perhaps respond.

[Stump]

Incidents involving the discharge of the officer's weapon at a person or other deadly force will involve taking the officer off the street and behind a desk until the internal investigation is over.
If Joe citizen calls to complain that an officer pushed him, then that would not warrant taking said cop off the street.

Official misconduct will result in suspension (not even desk work) until the investigation is completed.

[Sentinel]

Different departments handle things differently and have different mechanisms in place to deal with complaints against officers. In most departments it is up to a supervisor of some kind to determine whether an officer stays active or is placed on restricted duty status pending outcome of an investigation. Larger departments have guidelines for supervisors to follow to determine what constitutes such infractions.

I know for most metropolitan police departments there was a major lawsuit in 1983 that changed everything. prior to that time in most departments the department, not the individual officer, was help financially liable for conduct of their employee, the officer. After that case however things changed. That case ruled that indeed an individual officer could be personal sued and held liable for conduct they performed while in the performance of their duty.

That being said the general rule of thumb for most large departments has been that they will back you up or indemnify you if after a departmental hearing they determine that you were acting in accordance with department policies. If they determine that you were NOT working within department guidelines then they do not have to indemnify you.

Example:
If you pull your gun and for no reason go on a shooting spree, anyone shot could sue you personally, not the city you work for although they could sue them too and likely would since the city has more money than you. In that situation the city would likely cut you loose and not choose to indemnify you.

Usually the city will indemnify you because if they don't it could leave them open to a potential suit as well anyway since they are saying you screwed up and they hired you and sent you out onto the street and trained you.

What does an officer have then to protect himself in such situations? A lawyer like anyone else. If your lucky it will be provided by your PBA/FOP/union. If not you are on your own. To my knowledge there is no "malpractice" insurance for lawmen (yet). I say yet because it seems to me that it is just a matter of time before such insurance is sold.

[CustomsCop]

Generally, if sued personally, the employing agency CAN substitute itself for you if you acted within policy. Nothing requires them to, though. Moral of the story: don't go out on a limb, and know your policies front to back!

Second, there are a number of companies (albeit small) that do offer liability insurance, and a former co-worker of mine did have cause to make use of it in a Depravation of Civil Rights suit. Of course, on this spur of the moment I cannot recall the name of the company, but it was obtained through FLEOA (Federal Law Enforcement Officers Assoc) or FedCIA (Federal Criminal Investigators Association).

If you carry a badge and a gun, it is absolutely essential to obtain this liability insurance.