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Game theory is an abstract mathematical model. Citing mathematical models is not science: science requires experiment to verify whether your model holds up in p

Game theory is an abstract mathematical model. Citing mathematical models is not science: science requires experiment to verify whether your model holds up in practice. In this case, one could gather data from different countries to see if there's any correlation between the effectiveness of police and their level of legal protection. AFAIK, police forces in other rich nations function just fine without qualified immunity (admittedly, I have not studied this in detail).

austincheney 6y ago
Are police in other countries without qualified immunity more or less likely to be sued? Your argument ignores the rather important consideration of civil litigation frequency, which is a question of torts not policing.
- jmull 6y ago
  I’m not sure that’s the right question. What we want is for the police to behave better. The mechanism is increased legal liability. That is, both the fear and effects off law suits. Presumably, law suits would have to rise, especially at first, for this to work because I’m pretty sure the fear of increased legal liability alone will not change police behavior significantly. They will need to feel the teeth of this.
- ookdatnog 6y ago
  If you find a single instance of a nation where the police functions well without qualified immunity, you can at least conclude that it's not a necessary condition for police to be able to operate well. Sure, in a different context it may be a necessary condition, if you consider all other variables immutable. But there's no need to do that. Many variables can be changed, including the legal system. I think if you observe that your legal system is so janky that you can only have a functioning police force by making police officers selectively immune to the law, your response should be to not accept such a kludge and insist on actually reforming your legal system.

austincheney 6y ago

Are police in other countries without qualified immunity more or less likely to be sued? Your argument ignores the rather important consideration of civil litigation frequency, which is a question of torts not policing.

jmull 6y ago
I’m not sure that’s the right question. What we want is for the police to behave better. The mechanism is increased legal liability. That is, both the fear and effects off law suits. Presumably, law suits would have to rise, especially at first, for this to work because I’m pretty sure the fear of increased legal liability alone will not change police behavior significantly. They will need to feel the teeth of this.
ookdatnog 6y ago
If you find a single instance of a nation where the police functions well without qualified immunity, you can at least conclude that it's not a necessary condition for police to be able to operate well. Sure, in a different context it may be a necessary condition, if you consider all other variables immutable. But there's no need to do that. Many variables can be changed, including the legal system. I think if you observe that your legal system is so janky that you can only have a functioning police force by making police officers selectively immune to the law, your response should be to not accept such a kludge and insist on actually reforming your legal system.