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Wow, do I ever not know how I feel about the "good faith exception." It feels like it incentivizes the police to minimize their understanding of the law so tha

Wow, do I ever not know how I feel about the "good faith exception." It feels like it incentivizes the police to minimize their understanding of the law so that they can believe they are following it.

tristor 2y ago
> It feels like it incentivizes the police to minimize their understanding of the law so that they can believe they are following it. That's a bingo. That's exactly what they do, and why so many cops know less about the law than random citizens. A better society would have high standards for the knowledge expected of police officers, including things like requiring 4-year criminal justice or pre-law degree to be eligible to be hired, rather than capping IQ and preferring people who have had prior experience in conducting violent actions.
- ninalanyon 2y ago
  In some countries you are required to study the law in order to become a police officer. It's part of the curriculum in the three year bachelor level course you must pass to become a police officer in Norway for instance. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Police_University_College https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Police_University_Co... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Police_Service https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Police_Service
  - tristor 2y ago
    Yes, this likely explains part of why the Norwegian police behave like professionals who are trying to do their job with high standards of performance and behavior and the police in the US behave like a bunch of drinking buddies that used to be bullies in high school trying to find their next target to harass.
pavon 2y ago
The good faith exception requires the belief be reasonable. Ignorance of clearly settled law is not reasonable, it should be a situation where the law was unclear, had conflicting interpretations or could otherwise be interpreted the way the police did by a reasonable person.
Zak 2y ago
> It feels like it incentivizes the police to minimize their understanding of the law so that they can believe they are following it. It is not so lax as that. It's limited to situations where a reasonable person who knows exactly what the law and previous court rulings say might conclude that a certain action is legal. In this case, other Federal Circuit courts have ruled that similar actions are legal.

tristor 2y ago

> It feels like it incentivizes the police to minimize their understanding of the law so that they can believe they are following it. That's a bingo. That's exactly what they do, and why so many cops know less about the law than random citizens. A better society would have high standards for the knowledge expected of police officers, including things like requiring 4-year criminal justice or pre-law degree to be eligible to be hired, rather than capping IQ and preferring people who have had prior experience in conducting violent actions.

ninalanyon 2y ago
In some countries you are required to study the law in order to become a police officer. It's part of the curriculum in the three year bachelor level course you must pass to become a police officer in Norway for instance. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Police_University_College https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Police_University_Co... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Police_Service https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Police_Service
- tristor 2y ago
  Yes, this likely explains part of why the Norwegian police behave like professionals who are trying to do their job with high standards of performance and behavior and the police in the US behave like a bunch of drinking buddies that used to be bullies in high school trying to find their next target to harass.

pavon 2y ago

The good faith exception requires the belief be reasonable. Ignorance of clearly settled law is not reasonable, it should be a situation where the law was unclear, had conflicting interpretations or could otherwise be interpreted the way the police did by a reasonable person.

Zak 2y ago

> It feels like it incentivizes the police to minimize their understanding of the law so that they can believe they are following it. It is not so lax as that. It's limited to situations where a reasonable person who knows exactly what the law and previous court rulings say might conclude that a certain action is legal. In this case, other Federal Circuit courts have ruled that similar actions are legal.