4 ms·

A lawsuit is exactly what matters. They learn only the hard way, and no other way. If you want them to not be ridiculous, a lawsuit with large punitive damages

A lawsuit is exactly what matters. They learn only the hard way, and no other way. If you want them to not be ridiculous, a lawsuit with large punitive damages is the only practical way to get there.

wvenable 8mo ago
I disagree. The city or state gets sued and they pay the result from the taxpayer funds and literally nobody learns anything, especially not the hard way. Everyone is so completely divorced, and in some cases immune, from consequences that this will change nothing.
- anon84873628 8mo ago
  The cities and states make laws to better govern police behavior. You can look back on a century of history of this.
- selcuka 8mo ago
  After a couple million dollar lawsuits the city or state will learn to be more careful with their methods. It's the taxpayer funds, but it's not an endless supply of money. Cities and states have their own budgets.
  - LadyCailin 8mo ago
    There’s a heck of a lot of individual cities and states. Their ability to remain solvent is greater than your ability to stay out of jail.
  - silisili 8mo ago
    > After a couple million dollar lawsuits the city or state will learn to be more careful with their methods You'd think, but watching how many millions my local police department and city paid out every single year leads me to believe they just don't care.
    - phendrenad2 8mo ago
      How many, exactly? Anyone can wave vagueness around. Do you have numbers or no?
      - silisili 8mo ago
        I haven't lived there in years, nor do I have exact numbers, but they make national news enough for the same problem nearly every year. I'll drop you some links if you care. 1 - 38 million between 2017 and 2022. 2 - 29 million in 2023. 3 - 12 million in settlements in 2025. Dare I keep going? [1]https://www.wdrb.com/in-depth/louisville-payouts-for-police-lawsuits-burden-city-budget/article_2ab12fa2-e80d-11ec-b5cb-cffb4228cb13.html https://www.wdrb.com/in-depth/louisville-payouts-for-police-... [2]https://www.aol.com/louisville-paid-least-29m-settle-103045081.html https://www.aol.com/louisville-paid-least-29m-settle-1030450... [3]https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2026/02/04/louisville-metro-government-2025-lawsuit-payouts-more-than-12-million/88359856007/ https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2026/02/04/...
        phendrenad2 8mo ago
        The region's GDP is 100 billion dollars, so these are tiny amounts, although they may seem large to some. And the first article you link proves that people are already worried about it. You think they can safely 10x that?
        silisili 8mo ago
        > The region's GDP is 100 billion dollars, so these are tiny amounts, although they may seem large to some. It's a fair point and easy to handwave away "it's only $100 per resident." But it's a lot of money still. And yet that city is shutting down schools and selling off school properties to make budget this year. I bet they'd love to have those wasted millions. > You think they can safely 10x that? I have no idea the reason for this question. The OP said cities learn after a couple million dollar suits. I'm showing that no, they do not. If anything suits are increasing.
  - ihsw 8mo ago
    [dead]
  - wvenable 8mo ago
    More than $1.5 billion has been spent to settle claims of police misconduct involving thousands of officers repeatedly accused of wrongdoing. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/police-misconduct-repeated-settlements/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/20...
    - selcuka 8mo ago
      Do we have any evidence that these lawsuits have no effect on the number of wrongdoings?
      - wvenable 8mo ago
        Did you see the word "repeatedly"?
    - nbernard 8mo ago
      Good point! It shows that the settlements are far too low and that the victims should get a lot more. If a few cities/states were to default due to debts coming from such cases, the others would start to take notice...
      - wvenable 8mo ago
        Why won't we just dole out real punishments instead of an indirect chain of money? Money is not the solution to everything.
  - ThePowerOfFuet 8mo ago
    No. It's not their money and they don't care.

A lawsuit is exactly what matters. They learn only the hard way, and no other way. If you want them to not be ridiculous, a lawsuit with large punitive damages is the only practical way to get there.

wvenable 8mo ago

I disagree. The city or state gets sued and they pay the result from the taxpayer funds and literally nobody learns anything, especially not the hard way. Everyone is so completely divorced, and in some cases immune, from consequences that this will change nothing.

anon84873628 8mo ago
The cities and states make laws to better govern police behavior. You can look back on a century of history of this.
selcuka 8mo ago
After a couple million dollar lawsuits the city or state will learn to be more careful with their methods. It's the taxpayer funds, but it's not an endless supply of money. Cities and states have their own budgets.
- LadyCailin 8mo ago
  There’s a heck of a lot of individual cities and states. Their ability to remain solvent is greater than your ability to stay out of jail.
- silisili 8mo ago
  > After a couple million dollar lawsuits the city or state will learn to be more careful with their methods You'd think, but watching how many millions my local police department and city paid out every single year leads me to believe they just don't care.
  - phendrenad2 8mo ago
    How many, exactly? Anyone can wave vagueness around. Do you have numbers or no?
    - silisili 8mo ago
      I haven't lived there in years, nor do I have exact numbers, but they make national news enough for the same problem nearly every year. I'll drop you some links if you care. 1 - 38 million between 2017 and 2022. 2 - 29 million in 2023. 3 - 12 million in settlements in 2025. Dare I keep going? [1]https://www.wdrb.com/in-depth/louisville-payouts-for-police-lawsuits-burden-city-budget/article_2ab12fa2-e80d-11ec-b5cb-cffb4228cb13.html https://www.wdrb.com/in-depth/louisville-payouts-for-police-... [2]https://www.aol.com/louisville-paid-least-29m-settle-103045081.html https://www.aol.com/louisville-paid-least-29m-settle-1030450... [3]https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2026/02/04/louisville-metro-government-2025-lawsuit-payouts-more-than-12-million/88359856007/ https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2026/02/04/...
      - phendrenad2 8mo ago
        The region's GDP is 100 billion dollars, so these are tiny amounts, although they may seem large to some. And the first article you link proves that people are already worried about it. You think they can safely 10x that?
        silisili 8mo ago
        > The region's GDP is 100 billion dollars, so these are tiny amounts, although they may seem large to some. It's a fair point and easy to handwave away "it's only $100 per resident." But it's a lot of money still. And yet that city is shutting down schools and selling off school properties to make budget this year. I bet they'd love to have those wasted millions. > You think they can safely 10x that? I have no idea the reason for this question. The OP said cities learn after a couple million dollar suits. I'm showing that no, they do not. If anything suits are increasing.
- ihsw 8mo ago
  [dead]
- wvenable 8mo ago
  More than $1.5 billion has been spent to settle claims of police misconduct involving thousands of officers repeatedly accused of wrongdoing. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/police-misconduct-repeated-settlements/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/20...
  - selcuka 8mo ago
    Do we have any evidence that these lawsuits have no effect on the number of wrongdoings?
    - wvenable 8mo ago
      Did you see the word "repeatedly"?
  - nbernard 8mo ago
    Good point! It shows that the settlements are far too low and that the victims should get a lot more. If a few cities/states were to default due to debts coming from such cases, the others would start to take notice...
    - wvenable 8mo ago
      Why won't we just dole out real punishments instead of an indirect chain of money? Money is not the solution to everything.
- ThePowerOfFuet 8mo ago
  No. It's not their money and they don't care.