• ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Cops should have to carry malpractice insurance like doctors. That way citizens don’t have to pay out when they hurt someone, and they can be labeled uninsurable if they’re too much of an asshole.

    There is, unfortunately, no sane underwriter who could look at ANY part of that and go, “Yeah! That’s a great risk! That’s exactly where I want to put my cash!”

    And police departments are already responsible for vetting their new hires and expelling unsuitable officers; as long as someone else, anyone else, is paying these settlements they will just continue to shirk that duty, along with all the others they’ve shucked off that involve protecting and serving working-class citizens.

    It’s a great idea, but for that to work it would necessitate exactly the reform the cops have been fighting all along. These cop-murder settlements are moving into high 8-figures now. Just one bad shooting could wipe out a single insurer. The states could underwrite it, but they’re already doing that by paying out court-awarded settlements; it would be moving money from one budget to another with no gain.

    So in essence, that’s State Farm looking at Florida and going, “Yeah . . . absolutely not.”