by Lyle Adriano |
Insurance companies can help keep
law enforcement personnel in line—that was the idea posited in a recent report
on National Public Radio.
With issues of police brutality
and abuse sprouting across America, the reformation of the country’s police
forces has been seriously considered. The government, however, is limited to
what it can do to change the agencies for the better.
The article cities research from
University of Chicago assistant law professor John Rappaport, who found that
insurers were actively trying to limit the liability of the police departments
they cover.
"One of the first things I
found was this pamphlet from Travelers Insurance about how to do a strip
search, and I just thought people in my world have no idea that this stuff is
out there and it's really fascinating," said Rappaport.
By coming across similar material
on the Internet, Rappaport realized that police departments typically do not
feel the financial pain of a lawsuit. When a lawsuit is filed against an
officer for his or her actions, neither the officer’s nor his or her
department’s money is at stake.
On the hand, if the city has
liability insurance, the insurer instead will be on the receiving end of the
burden and would do something to lessen the risk.
"They look for ways to push
police departments in a direction of reduced risk," Rappaport reasoned.
It has been observed that
non-profit insurance pools—particularly those in the Western states—have been
the most “hands-on” when it came to providing police departments with support
and educational information, such as the latest court precedents on the use of
force and the like. Some of these insurers have even gone out their way to pay
for the police departments’ special training.
Another law professor featured in
the article, Joanna Schwartz of UCLA, agrees with Rappaport that “insurers can
play the role of an honest broker to force a city to learn from its police
department's mistakes.”
"They are highly motivated
to reform because it affects their bottom line, and they're not constrained by
any of the political counterforces that could prevent the city council or mayor
from pushing hard on a law enforcement agency to reform," Schwartz
remarked.
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