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Comment by Algemarin | Hacker News Reader

What I don't understand and have been unable to find the answer to is that this warrant was granted based on accusations of drug trafficking and kidnapping--where is the justification for that?

What was the probable cause which prompted the judge to grant a home search warrant for drug trafficking and kidnapping here?

Why is there seemingly no accountability going on?

Armed police broke into someone's home, looking for drug trafficking and kidnapping, and it seems that evidence of neither was found. Why were they allowed to do this by the signing judge?

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There's no accountability because there's no account to hold. The police have qualified immunity and the judge has absolute immunity. Unless you can prove that he knew he was doing the wrong thing with the intent to cause harm there is absolutely nothing to be done.

All of those supposed protections are meaningless in the face of the superior protection granted to police, judges, and prosecutors.

It's so insane. It should be three exact opposite. If you hold public office, the punishment should be amplified not reduced or outright impossible. IMO if a judge gets caught even for a minor offense like shoplifting, they should get a year in prison and lose their job. If cops steal from suspects, manufacture or plant evidence they should look at the death penalty. The impact of the crime when committed by an official goes way beyond the immediate damage since it undermines the entire system. A cop being exposed as corrupt is much more harmful to the system than a private individual vomiting a murder. The punishment needs to be in accordance with that.

I think treating them the same as the rest of the population would suffice

I think I agree with the GP. Treating them the same would be a good start, but I'm fully on board with the notion that with great power comes great sentencing.

> A cop being exposed as corrupt is much more harmful to the system than a private individual vomiting a murder.

Or just punish them according to law and make it impossible for someone with a criminal record to work in the field (at least for a certain time, depending on the severity of the crime, someone that shoplifted once at the age of thirteen should probably still be able to become a cop).

> Why is there seemingly no accountability going on?

Warrants are petitioned for by district attorneys, who are elected officials. In principle, the means of redress for inappropriately pushing for warrants and improperly using prosecutorial discretion is at the ballot box.

That's an unworkable solution if much of the electorate actually enjoys the prosecution using such frivolous warrants to target the "wrong" kinds of people.

Or an extremely workable solution - if a small organization cared enough to keep long-term records of DA decisions, and even a modest % of the voters cared about good vs. bad district attorneys on election day (to vote based on that small organization's ratings of elected DA's).

The NRA (Nat'l Rifle Association) very successfully used that playbook for decades. During which much of the electorate supposedly wanted much stricter gun control.

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