All true... And I agree, Unfortunately the justice system has become dysfunctional. My Dad and Uncle worked in it when it was still functional and anymore all they can do is shake their heads with no comment at what is happening now.
And you might argue against this... But the only cure I can see that might bring it back in order would be to eliminate both Qualified and Justified immunity.
I fear that until personal financial liability and accountability for actions is put in place it is never going to change. It’s just going to continue to get worse.
OK, I don’t know if that would be a help either.
I can only give you my perspective from my own experiences.
Our department used to have a policy that no patrol officer could take a promotional exam until they had at least five years on the job. Because of political pressure, that was then changed to three years. Then, because the desired result wasn’t achieved, the rules were changed once again to exam at two years, promote after three.
What we saw was those guys who really didn’t want to be cops would try and get slow one-man car districts where they spent the bulk of their time parked in a shopping mall studying while the rest of us were busting ass answering calls in hot districts.
Those were what we called the “inside” guys. The guys who didn’t want to be cops, but wanted to be promoted to a better gig. And believe me, the peter principal is alive and well in the police service.
Those guys are now senior command and they are making policy. They are the ones in charge of recruitment, training, operations, investigations, and of course, are your chiefs and deputies.
It’s kind of like having someone jump from a rowboat to a yacht. Experience, in this business, does matter.
I once had a chief that was more concerned about us wearing our hats than doing the work. I got written up because I responded to a robbery in progress and exited my vehicle without my hat. I did catch the perp, but priorities.
There is no easy fix for this.
As long as there is no respect by the public for the job, the downward slide will continue. As long as there are officers who create reasons for the public not to trust LEO’s the circle continues.
I don’t believe immunity from civil liability ever enters the mind of those involved. What we need are politicians who do not use the safety services as positions to reward their cronies and more accountability by and for police executives over the people they manage.