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Alright, guys, today's questions is so important. It's important to every single officer watching my videos and those that watch my videos. It is what happens if we lose qualified immunity? Right? It's on your mind. I know it is. And if you've already lost qualified immunity in some of the states like Colorado and so forth in New York, New Mexico, right, then what does that mean? Okay, well, first of all, let's get down to it. What is qualified immunity qualified immunity is a judicially created doctrine that protects officers from lawsuits when the issue is not clearly established under the law. In other words, officers oftentime make decisions in the field, constitutional decisions that are not quite black and white, you know that the US Supreme Court has not addressed it, their Circuit Court has not addressed it, their state Supreme Court has not addressed this issue. So what is what are they supposed to do? Say, timeout? Suspect? Look, I'm going to timeout for a second. I'm going to go seek judicial approval. But what I'm going to do, and I'll be back, no, they can't do a timeout. So qualified immunity is there to protect officers except the blainley. Incompetent from lawsuits against for situations that are not clearly established under the law? In summary, to qualify for qualified immunity, right, to get to be immune from a lawsuit. The qualifications are this, number one, did you even violate the constitution? That's one question that the courts can ask and answer, right. Um, maybe they say, Look, I know, it's unclear that this officer, you know, but we actually find that the officer did the right thing. So, boom, we don't need qualified immunity, the officer actually was constitutional. But even if the court found that the officer was conducting or doing something that was unconstitutional, right, the next question is, alright, was the law clearly established at the time because, again, if the laws not clearly established, then it's not fair to hold the officer liable for money damages, when it's not even clear that they would have violated at the time of the act. So clearly established law comes from again, the US Supreme Court, and your circuit court, and your state Supreme Court. So for example, if you're in Texas, and you do something, right, and the Illinois State Supreme Court has found that what you did violates the Constitution, does that apply to you know, that is persuasive, not binding on my Texas officers, so that is not going to eliminate qualified immunity for Texas cops, right? Maybe they might maybe the court in Texas might say, hey, look, yeah, looking at this Illinois case, you know, what, from now on, we're gonna rule that this is illegal, right? Or I should say unlawful or unlawful in the constitution. So that's what qualified immunity is. Now, if we get rid of qualified immunity, then what happens is, we get rid of the clearly established part. All we have to do now, if we get rid of qualified immunity is simply ask, did the officer violate the constitution? Even if he or she wasn't on notice? The answer is yes. liable. Right? That's what this is all about. So then, if the officer violate the Constitution, even if he or she wouldn't have known, and they're liable. Now let's go to the next step, which is what is the likely outcome? Okay, so a lot of officers believe, Oh, man, if they if they get rid of qualified immunity, I'm going to be I could, you know, I could lose my house. I could lose my pension. Probably not. Right. That's the good news. I know overall, this is a pretty scary thing, but probably not. And here's why. Because the people passing these laws to get rid of qualified immunity. I gotta tell you something.
They don't want you to pay. Not personally. They want your agency to pay, see this a money grab, right, get rid of qualified immunity, makes the the makes it easier, much easier to reach into the pockets of the taxpayer. Because that's A big hurdle for them. Right? These people who sue cops huge hurdle qualified immunity, right? They can't sue you, if you're not clearly established, they're basically making case law. So, but at the end of the day, when they go to the legislature and lobby for this, and they have their backroom deals, they're not saying, hey, please, please pretty please give us this law to get rid of qualified immunity and pretty pleased, let's have John Doe, the officer personally liable, because we really want him to pay that million dollar judgment, uh, know, many lawsuits that, you know, that are, if you've lost qualified immunity are going to be in the hundreds of 1000s of dollars in legal fees, damages and so forth. Right. So who do you think officers can afford that? Most cannot? Right? I mean, Don Johnson probably has little bit of bread in his pocket, you know, he's drove around a Ferrari and stuff. But the answer is no, most cops do not have enough money to cover the judgment. So these trial lawyers are making sure that in the bill, the taxpayer is ultimately responsible. Let me give you an example, even from Colorado, so SB 217. Right, the bill that got rid of qualified immunity, Colorado, did you know that it says in there, that even if the officer is found liable, right, as long as he was not willful, right, he did not willfully violate anybody's rights, the taxpayer is on the hook, not the officer. Now, even if it says, even if the officer was willful, in some kind of punitive, you know, willfully violate someone's rights knew better, right? Should have known that this was a violation. 25,000 bucks. Is that chump change? No. But that's not losing your house kind of money. Right? So. So I mean, you could you put up a GoFundMe, and you're probably gonna get that, right. So even in Colorado, the max out of pocket expense is $25,000. So that's what also want to let you know, now finally, the finally, the officer says, Okay, so that's where we're at, right? That's what qualified immunity is violating the Constitution, you know, clearly established, you should have known better get rid of that all we have to do is find a college violation, but you're probably not going to pay. But that's still not a good thing, right? Because at the end of the day, we don't want officers having a lawsuit in their name, right, and being found liable, because that just, that's not good for the taxpayer, that's not good for the officers, well being and mental and physical health, it's not good for your career, right? You're walking around with this black cloud over your head that you violate some of these rights. And that's going to, you know, stunt your professional growth. So finally, then, the officer says, what are the best strategies to protect ourselves and avoid future lawsuits? One is to work in a state that protects officers, right? I mean, I, I, if you know, we there has to be there has to be a repercussion for states like Colorado, hammering their cops for trying to do a thankless job. And then not even getting qualified. I mean, there has to be a repercussion to that. What that repercussion is you decide what that is. But, you know, I just hope that people going to this business becoming cops, if they have a choice where they can live, my advice is don't become a cop in a place that doesn't have your back. Right? I mean, that's just that's to me, that's, that's just like going to any employer, where you come in to the job is to say, Welcome to this XYZ profession. By the way, if you mess up, we're gonna throw you to the wolves. Welcome. Do I start on Monday? Yeah, I'll pass. The next thing is, know the law. Right? If you are working, if you are working in a state like Colorado, New York, and so forth, guys, look, I'm with you. I know you just can't pick up and move at the drop of a hat. I understand that. And I'm not saying that you should retire on duty. But I am saying that if you're going to do this job, you've got to have your head on your shoulders, right? A good head and shoulders, you've got to know the law, you got to use good discretion, right? You've got to you can't you can't just kind of fly by wire, you know, or Brail anymore, right? You've got to know the law. So in order to protect yourself, I'm not going to recommend go getting an insurance policy, maybe that is what you should do. But the better recommendation is know the law. So you're not violating people's rights. You're not even getting to that qualified immunity question because you're not violating people's rights to begin with. So here's a you know, a plug for my stuff. I have plenty of free classes every single week. I got plenty of videos on YouTube. Watch him. I got plenty of classes in person online, on demand. Take those classes. That's what I'm contributing to your success. take other people's training. Don't just take mine. take other people's stuff, because this is too important to try to, you know, hopefully be lucky and go through this career. There is no luck anymore. It has to be competence. And that's what I have for you. Okay? Also take advantage of me. I am here for your legal survival. I am here to help you learn search and seizure. And if you don't want to reach out to me and ask me questions, and you do have questions that's on you, right? But I'm here for you paid or not paid, right? Go to my classes, I don't go to my classes. I'm here for you, because I care about your survival. And I don't want to see you, you know, losing your home or anything like that. Even if you live in  a pro law enforcement place. You got to get your answers. You guys get your questions answered. All right. Look, great question. Hope you got something out of it. Until next time, my friends, stay safe and keep up what you're doing. And also, if you like what I'm doing, hit the like button. Comment, subscribe, share with your friends, I'd really appreciate. Thank you.
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