Police civil liability is one of the more complex areas of civil law. Because of their unique position in society, police officers have to be free to engage in behavior that would be tortious if it was committed by people outside of law enforcement. However, that same unique societal position means that those in law enforcement are given opportunities to abuse power that others do not have. The apparent dichotomy of those two realities is that people need a way to seek redress from law enforcement for violations of civil liberties, while those in law enforcement need to be able to do their jobs without fearing that every action will trigger a successful lawsuit. Society has decided to balance the two competing needs by providing ways for complainants to seek legal redress for harms done to them by law enforcement officials, while also providing some immunity and limited defenses for...
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