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Comment by tl | Hacker News Reader

I can't believe we're having this discussion either. Force cops to follow rules, full stop. We know that police misconduct begets more misconduct [1], and it works in both directions.

When officers start losing their badge or their pension for cutting corners, they'll stop cutting corners.

[1]: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23780231198797...

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Absolutely, cops have to be held to a higher standard. This so called "peace officer" was stopped from trying to draw the blood from the unconscious person! Then he has the gall to arrest the nurse who told him he had no right! Then, instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he blames the system!

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/10/12/ex-salt-lake-city-off...

https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2019/08/28/police-offic...

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/01/561337106...

https://app.copdb.org/incidents/2ea95420-2070-4c9d-8e72-f1c6...

Cops in that case were desperate to move liability for an MVA from their buddy who was off-duty and drunk to the other party in the collision, hoping to find that he had anything in his system that they could point to as a contributing, if not causing, factor (because let's face it, if they were willing to do that, I'm sure they'd also be entirely willing to let their buddy sleep it off a few hours before doing his draw so his numbers weren't problematic - I mean, the guy he killed isn't going to be able to testify against him).

So how many of these cops faced a punishment beyond an unplanned paid vacation?

Fairly predictable.

Detective Jeff Payne was fired by SLC PD, remained unapologetic. Went to the next county north and hired at the County Jail. He then sued SLC and the PD for wrongful termination, arguing that his bodycam footage was misleading and that he was following direction of a supervisor.

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