As Qualified Immunity Takes Center Stage, More Delay from SCOTUS
One night I was dispatched to a fare in an area known to not be especially prosperous. I was trying to read numbers on houses, then I saw flashing red and blue lights ahead and knew where my prospective passenger would be found.<p>A police officer was on watch outside; his colleague was inside wrapping things up. The police officer told me the family had called for an intervention. The fire department had already departed, as Grandpa had declined medical assistance.<p>I asked what the story was. The police officer said simply &quot;probably meth&quot;, and pointed out the right to refuse medical care is fundamental. I was supposed to take Grandpa to a motel.<p>At one point in our interaction, the police officer pointed out that it takes different kinds of cops to work in Scottsdale (for example), where some drunk kid might have a prestigious lawyer as their parent, vs. his ghetto precinct, where it&#x27;s a point of pride to have &#x27;taken a swing at a cop&#x27;.<p>Eventually Grandpa came out and got in my cab, the two police officers departed... Then grandpa wanted his son&#x27;s phone number. I started the meter and pulled forward a few feet to where his son was standing. He got the phone number, then a woman appeared... She said they just wanted him to get help, Grandpa said &quot;I just want to get some rest...&quot; &quot;oh, you can rest here...&quot; My passenger&#x27;s son paid me $6 for the 20 feet, and that was the end of that.<p>There&#x27;s a lot of collateral damage in policing... Many other passengers had stories of being pointlessly harmed through their interactions with the police. One white fellow let his medical marijuana card expire. One day he got mouthy with a cop, who searched him and found his non-medical &quot;dangerous illegal drug&quot;. My passenger said the search was probably illegal, but his overworked public defender didn&#x27;t get the charges dismissed. I remember him saying it cost him about $5000.<p>The modern police officer&#x27;s job involves, in part, hurting people who don&#x27;t actually need to be hurt. Qualified immunity allows them to do the full spectrum of their job responsibilities without being hurt themselves. Ending auto-immune drug war, and finding ways to help people who need help, are the actual reforms that policing needs to break it of its destructive tendencies.