ICPPUL > Police > Privileged

 

Qualified Immunity:

• Police are the only class of people that can legally claim ignorance of the law
• Police do not enforce the law when other officers violate the law: example NY Police parking impunity.
  • Police flip the script: accuse citizen of violating the law by standing on the sidewalk,  preventing him from illegally parking on the sidewalk.
• Unless there is an exactly parallel case, with an unreasonably exact set of facts in the same jurisdiction, they can claim qualified immunity (engineer allowed to detain?).
• Many take liberties with the law.  They do not respect the law (speeding, parking, etc) when breaking the law is not required.  This impunity contributes  to attitude that affects their interactions with the public.
  • The cops parking in an actual parking spot was the most surprising thing I’ve seen in a long time lol. I’m pretty sure I’ve NEVER seen them do that before!

Systemic Power

• Judges usually grant them the benefit of the doubt when they testify, even when they retaliate for an insult (flipping off) by lying about speed, the means of assessing the speed and use of passive aggressive interrogation and bogus evidence.
  • The driver has to go through over 8 months of hearings and the officer suffers no penalty.