Qualified Immunity Act

Within this document are guidelines and specifics regarding the subject of “qualified immunity” in order for qualified immunity to be called upon within a court and used for immunity of the hammer of law several requirements must be met those requirements are listed below.

Qualified Immunity Explained

Qualified immunity if used correctly gives an officer of the law immunity from prosecution of law should he/she commit an offense that would otherwise be deemed a breach of law. Qualified immunity may only be used under specific circumstances should they be met then under no condition shall an officer be held legally responsible for, legal reprimand, or financial reimbursement of people/ or persons subject to the actions of said officer.

Summary of Qualified Immunity

If the actions of an officer are outside of the requirements of the Qualified Immunity document (e.g. their actions are illegal) then the officer is liable. If the officer’s actions are within the requirements of Qualified Immunity (e.g. their actions were legal), then you will have to direct your lawsuit towards their agency. If you are the plaintiff and you specifically want to sue an officer, then the burden to prove that the officer is not covered by Qualified Immunity is on you. In other words, you need to prove that what the officer did is illegal and not an acceptable practice within the law enforcement community.

Qualified immunity Requirements

In order for qualified immunity to be used in the defense of an officer the following conditions MUST apply, The officers actions were deemed to be lawful and humane, The actions used by the officer were approved and widely accepted throughout the LEO community, the legal actions followed up or taken by the officer are verified to be correctly implied, the demeanor/ behavior of the officer before, during, and after the situation directly correlating to the questioning of the situation involving the officer are found to be appropriate.

Closing Advisory

Should an individual be granted Qualified Immunity Financial reimbursements, and public advisory duties fall to the responsibility of the Department housing the officer.