That's why IMO police should have both better legal protection and more legal accountability.
Simon,
Nationwide in the US, the police have “qualified immunity” which protects police from being sued or prosecuted when they commit crimes or violate the rights of the public in the course of their duties. This protection comes from SCOTUS and is based on case law from the 1970’s. It is a license to kill and steal. There is no better protection than this. Let’s say for example that cops go to your house and brazenly steal from you, if you sue them or press charges, they can claim immunity. (This has actually happened and they won.) Rarely has a cop been indicted for anything but the city many times pays when sued civilly with a hush order. All that needs to be done is write more summons even bogus ones and laugh. Regarding police accountability, since police are part of the prosecution and work very closely with Courts that doesn’t happen. However, with phone cams and social media publishing irrefutable video evidence of police wrongs, qualified immunity doesn’t fly with public opinion and police are now being held accountable.Some States have revoked qualified immunity because of police bad publicity but it is only a façade to appease the public because immunity is Federal Law from Scotus. Interestingly, according to case law because pd is an agency of the municipality, they are not suable, the city would need to be sued when police causes injury to someone. The city usually pays with a smile but very little and after court costs and legal fees and expenses, it is a waste of time usually.