A bill that would limit the legal immunity police officers get when accused of using excessive force died in a Louisiana Senate committee.
The move to limit "qualified immunity" came out of a legislative study group formed last year to look at reforming police practices in the wake of nationwide protests against police brutality. Rep. Edmond Jordan (D-Baton Rouge) proposed a bill to give judges guidelines for deciding whether a law enforcement officer acted reasonably.
WWL's Newell Normand, former sheriff of Jefferson Parish, says qualified immunity is not the barrier to good policing that it is made out to be.
"If it's obvious to a reasonable person that what you're doing, even if the policy may say that it's okay, is clearly wrong, it still holds the officer responsible, so it's not rewarding bad behavior," Newell explained. "When it's not clearly established, the officer should have the benefit of the doubt that he's doing something that's not been clearly delineated in society, as society progresses, to say 'this is conduct that is no longer accepted by the community at large.'"
Supporters of the bill said the problem with that point of view is that it requires a new precedent to be set before consequences can be applied, meaning the first officers to violate that standard won't face punishment.
Newell said another problem with limits on qualified immunity is that law officers may decide to quit if they end up personally liable for actions taken in the line of duty, and it would not help in recruiting new officers, either:
"Be careful what you ask for: you may get it; you'll have no officers."
