Velshi: Reforming Qualified Immunity | MSNBC

Qualified immunity is one of those things that, if altered or removed, could fundamentally change policing. Qualified immunity protects law enforcement officers as well as state and local officials from frivolous litigation unless the accused violated a clearly established constitutional right. And establishing that violation is not easy, especially if there is no prior pattern of such behavior – so over the years, qualified immunity has become a kind of “shield” in thousands of lawsuits seeking to hold police officers accountable when accused of using excessive force. Proponents of qualified immunity say it’s essential because police need latitude to make split-second decisions in scenarios that could put lives, including their own, at risk. Opponents described qualified immunity as a, “shoot first, think later” approach to policing.» Subscribe to MSNBC:

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#Police #QualifiedImmunity #Cops #Velshi #MSNBC

Velshi: Reforming Qualified Immunity | MSNBC

37 comments

    1. I’ll tell you.
      Cops are taught in cop school (POST) that if the situation requires use of their firearm, they are to continue to fire until the danger has been neutralized. That means on the ground or hands up. In a car, with the windows gone opaque from breaking, officers cannot tell if the suspect continues to pose a threat… so they fire many rounds in self defense.
      It’s not a choice… it’s TRAINING. It’s what they are supposed to do.
      The number of shots fired can seem shocking, especially when several officers follow the same training. But it’s NOT out of anger or hatred. It’s not. It’s truly self defense training reinforced until it’s almost automatic.
      I once fired my sidearm twice without any thought. If I hadn’t something even worse was about to happen.
      There are some truly great cops out there. Please don’t generalize from the specific, the bad few.

    2. @Make Racists Afraid Again these were university cops…it happened in a school zone…what do you expect that’s like walking into a airport carrying a knife you know you shouldn’t do because it won’t end well…

    3. @keef davis if university cops responded it most likely happened in a school zone …the person that was shot was lucky to survive…considering school shooting and violence now days…

    4. @Make Racists Afraid Again That was the only reasonable thing I’ve ever heard you say on here. I agree 100%

  1. thanks so much for the detailed explanation. now if only more of msm was simply about providing news as opposed to sensationalized narratives, we’d all clearly be much better off…

    1. @Jasmany Foch only thing that has the avg. american scared beyond non mask wearers and anti vaxers. is the cult of trump and it’s belief hate and freedom are one and the same. trust me it’s like watching someone who has their feet on the ground, but solely because the earth isn’t flat!!

    2. @One Redjam111 You and your brand new acct. What happened psycho, got banned and just made a new acct? You arent smart enough to dissent so id shut up if i was you

    3. @Chris
      Lmmfaoooooo
      Awe skabeeva Smirnoff
      Nice try but as usual you bring nothing but laffs my queen vladz trolling clown
      Try again goleeeboi chenkov 😂👍🏻😂

    4. If you believe MSNBC isn’t part of the media problem, then you’ve got blinders on.

  2. The anti-asian bill passed with 5 grainy worldstar vids. And nobody knows the back story to those attacks.
    We see vid after vid of MURDER by our U.S. government and nothing changes.

    1. The anti-Asian heat bill was passed in a bipartisan manner with both Republican and Democrat support.

    1. Literally. No other profession is immune from consequences, and those consequences are what motivates people to not f#%k up if they can help it.
      But with policing, we’re talking people who are literally given unilateral power over the citizenry, and total immunity from consequences when that power is abused—this is why reformation and re-training is wholly inadequate, the culture is cancerous, and teaches cops that they’re above the law in every conceivable way. And they abuse their authority in even the most minor ways, such as on the roads—how many times have you seen every car on the road slow down to exactly the speed limit when a cop car is in view, only to then witness the police car go speeding by 10 or 20 miles per hour over the speed limit? In fact, I’ve NEVER seen a cop going the speed limit, because what, is a cop going to pull another cop over for speeding??? That’s laughable at best, so they have no incentive to follow the laws that they’re forcing other people to strictly adhere to while in the presence, or suspected presence, of law enforcement.

      Reforms ain’t cuttin’ it. Cops need to be defunded, with their responsibilities limited to actual crime—violent crime. No more mental health checks for them, no more traffic stops, no more domestic abuse situations, no more patrolling inside of schools and scaring the black and brown and poor children, none of that. And quite frankly, police should be THANKFUL we’re moving to take those responsibilities away from them, because it’ll allow them to focus on what they’re actually employed by communities to prevent and combat. But they’re not, of course. So I guess we’ll do it without their help 乁༼☯‿☯✿༽ㄏ

    2. @Zachary Fluke Politicians are immune from consequences

  3. It needs reform.. bottom line.

    Can’t take a life & say “oops”… “my bad?”
    Can’t show out your bigotry & then hide behind the “shield”..

    As long as officers can stand behind those excuses, a reform will be next to impossible. 💯

    1. If university cops responded it had to be close to school grounds…the person was lucky to survive….nobody wants another school incident

  4. Other than petty crimes while undercover, there is zero valid justification for any sort of immunity.

  5. A lot of departments need to be fired, top to bottom, along w city officials… so corrupt they cant be reformed.

  6. the only way to reign in police gangs brutality is to end qualified immunity or take their guns away.

  7. Why Reform? Abolish!
    They want respect, then maybe only use your weapon as police when shots are fired on you

  8. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Same goes with lack of accountability. If qualified immunity is going to stay, it should be limited to cases where there is very little reason to doubt it was an honest mistake.

  9. It doesn’t need reforming. It was made in the judiciary by judicial activism. It need to be ended now. It serves no purpose. Nobody deserves to be above the law. If we are to believe that justice is blind, there is no better way to demonstrate this than to eliminate special privilege protections.

  10. There’s an assumption in the US that Policing involves shooting people to solve every assumed threat to self or others — spare a thought to the police in London, who do NOT carry guns and still have to save lives in the inner-city’s knife culture menace, how do they do it?

  11. Can I claim qualified immunity if, in the process of making a citizen’s arrest of an “armed and dangerous individual”, I shoot dead from a distance of say 30 feet that armed and dangerous police officer waiving their gun in what I judge to be a threatening manner at unarmed and peaceful individuals?

  12. Can you imagine medical professionals having qualified immunity. Malpractice would be commonplace….

  13. Velshi maybe if you had a fire behind you and calling it a peaceful attack I would believe you. NO I wait for facts

  14. Listen up all you who sit in front of your Tvs, have I got a story to tell.
    I am your all important newscaster, I’ve many a truth to quell.

    You must believe and follow as you sit their and listen.
    You can trust the words I speak, I’ll even make them glisten.

    Follow my lips, hear my words.
    I’ll draw you in like a flock of birds.

    I will repeat over and over until there is no doubt.
    You will then repeat and help spread the lies inside and out.

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