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Why do you believe that qualified immunity only applies to police officers? I won't pretend to be an expert---today being the first day I've read about it---bu

by cvoss 4y ago

Why do you believe that qualified immunity only applies to police officers? I won't pretend to be an expert---today being the first day I've read about it---but, the very first Wikipedia article I read about the topic discusses qualified immunity w.r.t. "government officials", not "officers", which is a much bigger category of people. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualified_immunity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualified_immunity

olliej 4y ago
QI typically comes up in the context of police officers, so people don't understand the QI was extended from legislators, etc to police officers despite no legislative basis for such.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
runnerup 4y ago
Teachers and school administrators also have qualified immmunity. They just tend to get fired when they egregiously screw up!
- kmonsen 4y ago
  I think this is part of it, police officers have the double-whammy of QI and the police unions protecting them from any consequence.
  - runnerup 4y ago
    It's interesting that teacher unions dont seem to have the same degree of absolute power.
    - kevviiinn 4y ago
      People are scared of crime, they usually aren't scared of students (unless the students are black, they put cops in those schools to arrest kids ofc)
    - mrguyorama 4y ago
      Police unions are the only unions that conservatives have NOT spent 50 years screaming about and demonizing. It's only natural for them to be the only unions with any power or sway.
vkou 4y ago
> Why do you believe that qualified immunity only applies to police officers? Because it's useful to have the enforcers of state power to be above the law. It's a bigger problem for police officers than the clerk at the DMV, because one of them walks around with a gun, a nightstick, and a pair of handcuffs, and extremely broad discretion for their use.
dx034 4y ago
I guess in many cases it makes sense. If the IRS messes up your tax return, you should sue the IRS and not the clerk that created it. For many government officials it's important to be protected by their organization. Police officers just stand out because their actions can have much bigger consequences and they often act as individuals. But I don't think it should mean QI cannot exist, just that there should definitely be a different standard when it comes to life and death (or freedom in case of arrests).

by cvoss 4y ago

olliej 4y ago

QI typically comes up in the context of police officers, so people don't understand the QI was extended from legislators, etc to police officers despite no legislative basis for such.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

runnerup 4y ago

Teachers and school administrators also have qualified immmunity. They just tend to get fired when they egregiously screw up!

kmonsen 4y ago
I think this is part of it, police officers have the double-whammy of QI and the police unions protecting them from any consequence.
- runnerup 4y ago
  It's interesting that teacher unions dont seem to have the same degree of absolute power.
  - kevviiinn 4y ago
    People are scared of crime, they usually aren't scared of students (unless the students are black, they put cops in those schools to arrest kids ofc)
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    Police unions are the only unions that conservatives have NOT spent 50 years screaming about and demonizing. It's only natural for them to be the only unions with any power or sway.

vkou 4y ago

> Why do you believe that qualified immunity only applies to police officers? Because it's useful to have the enforcers of state power to be above the law. It's a bigger problem for police officers than the clerk at the DMV, because one of them walks around with a gun, a nightstick, and a pair of handcuffs, and extremely broad discretion for their use.

dx034 4y ago

I guess in many cases it makes sense. If the IRS messes up your tax return, you should sue the IRS and not the clerk that created it. For many government officials it's important to be protected by their organization. Police officers just stand out because their actions can have much bigger consequences and they often act as individuals. But I don't think it should mean QI cannot exist, just that there should definitely be a different standard when it comes to life and death (or freedom in case of arrests).