Civil Liability In Law Enforcement

Civil liability in today’s society is a big issue when dealing with the interaction between law enforcement agencies, prisoners and citizen’s. Civil liability means a lawsuit filed by a person’s against another person. Most civil lawsuits usually seeks monetary damages such as; for injury or losses that the party alleges that the other person which would be the defendant has caused. (Civil Liability, 2017). When the defendant is found guilty of the damages, he or she must pay whatever monetary damages the jury or the judge award to the plaintiff for the harm alleged by the plaintiff that the defendant caused and the damages suffered. Civil court work differently than criminal court because in civil court cases the plaintiff only needs to prove

their case with less evidence, which mean; if the plaintiff proves that there is a chance that the defendant was responsible for their injuries or loss, the plaintiff will win the case. Compared to the criminal court case evidence must be beyond a reasonable doubt that this person committed or was involved in the crime.
Over the last few years law enforcement has been taking a big hit when dealing with a civil lawsuit against the prisoner and the citizens.

The main reason why law enforcement is dealing with civil lawsuit against the prisoner and the citizens is because of police officer misconduct. (Clarke, 2016). Police officer misconduct, mostly occur when a law enforcement officer violates a person civil rights. Misconduct of a law enforcement officer violating a person rights can rely under 42 USCA 1983, which can be stated, “It is unlawful for any law enforcement officer or agencies to act under the authority of state law to deprive another person right under the of their Constitution or federal law.” When a victim who is unlawfully violated by a law enforcement officer or agencies misconduct it is usually for unreasonable force, malicious prosecution, intentional false arrest and sexual abuse. (Clarke, 2016). Sometime, it is hard for a victim who has suffered police misconduct to file law enforcement misconduct lawsuit depending on the states. Most states required a victim to report the incident to the internal affairs division (I.A.) with the police department that the crime occurred, report the incident to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and report the incident to an Attorney General (AG). When the victim complaint is filed which those agencies, they will give the victim a written notice to file a lawsuit against the police. Once the police misconduct lawsuit is filed by the victim, the defendants will involved; the police officer(s) who was involved, the municipality, the supervisor of the police officer(s), the police chief or sheriff and the police department. There are three different lawsuits which the law enforcement officer and agencies will have to deal with; Civil Right Damages, Actual Damages and Punitive Damages. Civil Right Damages occurs when the damages are directly tied to the law enforcement officer which he or she has violated the victim Civil Rights.

Actual Damages occurs when the damages cover physical and emotional injuries, expenses and costs which occurred due to the incident that the victim suffer. Punitive Damages occurs when the damages are meant to punish the law enforcement officer, not the agencies.