Police Officers Immune from Prosecution for Breaking the Laws That Govern Us

There is evidence that courts cannot or choose not to see systemic patterns in police misconduct. One barrier is the doctrine of immunity that protects individual police officers from lawsuits -- defendant officers are usually indemnified by the municipalities or unions if an alleged misconduct is within the line of duty. Therefore, there is no real incentive for police officers to change their practices to ensure that individual rights are protected.

It is believed that without substantial social change, the control of police misconduct is improbable at best.

In the United States, investigation of cases of police deviance has often been left to internal police commissions and/or district attorneys (DAs). Internal police commissions have often been criticized for a lack of accountability and for bias favoring officers, as they frequently declare upon review that the officer(s) acted within the department's rules or according to their training. The ability of district attorneys to investigate police deviance has also been called into question, as DAs depend on help from police departments to bring cases to trial.

Most civil actions against police officers for misconduct are filed under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. However, it is difficult to succeed in § 1983 claims against police officers, and the successes in § 1983 claims do not necessarily result in changes in police practices. Further, judicially imposed barriers limit the value of remedies under § 1983 so § 1983 claims have not been effective in deterring police misconduct. Without much change in police practices, § 1983 continues to be ineffective in deterring police misconduct.
 
Numerous human rights observers have raised concerns about increased police brutality in the U.S. in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. The "War on Terror" has created a generalized climate of impunity for law enforcement officers and contributed to the erosion of what few accountability mechanisms exist for civilian control over law enforcement agencies. As a result, police brutality and abuse persist unabated and undeterred across the country.

Surveys of police officers found that police brutality, along with sleeping on duty, was viewed as one of the most common and least likely to be reported forms of police deviance other than corruption.

Other factors that have been cited as encouraging police brutality include:

• institutionalized systems of police training, management, and culture; 
• a criminal-justice system that discourages prosecutors from pursuing police misconduct vigorously; 
• a political system that responds more readily to police than to the residents of inner-city and minority communities; and 
• a racist political culture that fears crime and values tough policing more than it values due process for all its citizens.

Studies have shown that most police brutality goes unreported.

Police Officer Will Not Be Charged For Killing Napster Exec While Texting And Driving — Because It's Apparently OK For Police To Do That

August 29, 2014

Business Insider - Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy Andrew Wood will not be charged for fatally running over former Napster COO Milton Olin Jr. in his patrol car while the officer was typing a message into his computer.

We first saw the news on Valleywag, but there is good coverage in the Daily News and LAist.

The instance exposes the different way that law enforcement officials are treated versus civilians in cases where a person is killed because of texting while driving.

It's illegal to text and drive in California; the state has a specific law against it. Civilians caught doing it can expect to face charges. But a report from the Los Angeles District Attorney's office shows that the rules may be applied differently to cops.

The incident involving Olin and Wood happened in December 2013 in Calabasas, California. Olin, a key figure at the peer-to-peer music-sharing company that pioneered the online music download industry, was cycling in the bicycle lane when he was killed instantly by Wood's patrol car.

Wood drifted into the bicycle lane while typing a reply to a colleague who wanted to know whether any other officers were required to attend a fire reported at a high school he had just left. He was trying to tell the other officer that no further backup was needed.

The Los Angeles District Attorney's report into the incident says that even though it is illegal to text and drive, Wood was not negligent because police officers are expected to respond quickly to messages from colleagues:

LA County District Attorney's Office

Wood had also been texting his wife from his personal phone minutes before the crash, but those texts were not thought to have contributed to Wood's inattention while driving, the DA's office said.

In a statement taken at the scene, Wood claimed that Olin had veered into his lane. The DA reported that the opposite was true.

Deputy who killed ex-Napster COO will not be charged b/c he was answering work email http://t.co/cbtnJdtzxU pic.twitter.com/ikk50MQmmD — daniel (@cyclingreporter) August 28, 2014

Many of Los Angeles' cyclists are furious at the lack of charges, according to the LAist.

"To say biking advocates are unhappy with the DA's decision to not press charges is an understatement."

There is a petition to prosecute Deputy Andrew Wood on Change.org.