A House Committee has rejected a proposal that would have stripped Louisiana police officers of their legal protection from civil lawsuits over alleged civil rights violations like excessive force or wrongful death. Baton Rouge Representative Edmond Jordan led the effort to eliminate police officers’ “qualified immunity.”
“Qualified immunity has expanded so far that it gives American citizens practically no redress when the police violate their constitutional rights,” said Jordan.
Louisiana ACLU Advocacy Director Chris Kaiser says removing “qualified immunity” would disincentivize bad police behavior.
“In any other setting I think that it is easy for us to understand that the concept of immunity is an impediment to accountability, by definition immunity absolves accountability, immunity does the opposite of deterrence,” said Kaiser.
St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne spoke against it. He says the bill would have made officers think twice before intervening in the middle of active criminal behavior out of fear of being sued.
“Is this going to result in law enforcement officers being hesitant because are we now going to have to answer fully through court where we did not excerpt any force but really the result came through the perpetrators own actions,” says Champagne.
Louisiana Sheriff’s Association Legislative Liaison Shannon Dirmann also spoke in opposition. She says the LSA is open to some police reforms, but they need new officers to be able to implement them and this will make hiring them more difficult.
“Incentivizing lawsuits against good actors in which they have little defense will severely effect our recruiting and retention of the best and brightest that we want to work on these reforms with,” says Dirmann.
The vote was 9-7 against. It was a mostly party-line vote, two Republcians voted for the bill.
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