Getting Rid of a Couple of Bad Apples in the Wake of George Floyd's Death in not Enough

The murder of George Floyd is not about one or four bad apples. Whether they are prosecuted or not, whether they go to prison or not, many will argue that getting rid of them is the answer and then we will be fine. We won't be. This is systemic and systemic reforms are necessary and mandatory. I was on WCCO Radio with the extraordinary Jearlyn Steeleand she wanted answers and I didn't say 1, 2, 3, etc. That was a failure in my book. So, I am thinking about my own experience as a prosecutor and for years as a criminal defense lawyer here in town as well as my experience dealing with courts and prosecutors and judges all over the world. So here is a start. It is small, not complete and not totally fleshed out. Many smarter than me have suggested some of these but I've been thinking about a few of my own. I will add as I think more deeply about this. For those of you who want to send these to the Governor, the AG, the Mayor, the County Attorney, local community organizations with a stake in this, be my guest. 

1. Officers should be required to have mandatory malpractice insurance which they pay for out of their own pockets. They feel the pain and the cost personally for behavior and misbehavior. 

2. Officers will be personally responsible for all civil judgments. The jurisdiction should be responsibility for their own failures but the cops be personally liable. 

3. If insurance companies won’t back them through coverage to continue to be police officers, then they can’t be cops. 

4. There must be actually transparency of bad acts of officers. Again this requires disclosure to the insurance companies who could pull license for fiscal reasons which means no cops. 

5. Bad act transparency which means it must be disclosed automatically during discovery process in every subsequent criminal case in which they are involved.

6. Current investigations must also be disclosed upon the opening of said investigation and before resolution of the case which can take many months or ever. They can't hide behind State employee protection laws. There is a public necessity requirement that should override this. 

7. Require that all officers live in the jurisdiction in which they serve as police officers. This will connect them to their communities. 

8. Establish an independent Agency that overseas reforms. This must be adequately funded and those who serve are actually paid. This is not a job where you show up once a quarter. This Agency must have teeth that can impact police department funding. 

9. We must weaken the Minneapolis Police Officers' Union and other Federations. They can frequently outspend and outfight municipalities.

10. A truly independent licensure requirement will include ongoing training in ethics, community relations, systemic racism, violence, mental health, etc. This must be adapted as necessary. In the event these obligations are not fulfilled, a license will be revoked. I think of this life CLEs for lawyers, doctors and other professionals.

11. A community mechanism with actual teeth that has the power to revoke, suspend or cancel peace officer licensure.

12. These organizational structures must have a national component to exclude those that are bad cops from simply jumping jurisdictions Think Catholic Church pushing bad priests here and there. A black mark must not be filed away but must follow bad cops. If you are bad in Minneapolis, you are bad in Detroit an New York and in Seattle.

13. Contemplating a mandatory reporter requirement. Think school teachers, nurses and doctors who are obligated to report abuse.

This happened 12 blocks from where I live. I stood in the street looking at the place where Minneapolis police officers shackled George Floyd, threw him to the ground, and then essentially strangled him until he died. They then tried to justify it by arguing that he resisted and so they put him to the ground and was then automatically in medical distress. That lie is part of the systemic problem. Why did they lie? If so, that says something. If they didn’t see it as a problem, that says even more. Lets start there.