I was amazed recently when I turned in a shoplifter, and learned that the store security would not even stop the shoplifter, nor call the police. This due to the liability judgments made in the past in favor of shoplifters that brought suits for being stopped. This man was stuffing merchandise in his clothes and tossing the security tags on the bathroom floor. Pretty obvious stuff. \”We can\’t stop him unless we see it happening ourselves,\” they said.
Law enforcement entails some degree of risk. Sometimes a bystander gets hurt or killed. While there should be a standard of compensation when this happens, judgments shouldn\’t force police departments to avoid pursuing criminals altogether. Otherwise, we forfeit the good of the whole (effective law) enforcement, for the sake of an individual or his survivors that want to hit the lottery. Life is risk. Police shouldn\’t have to pay more than a fixed amount. If he didn\’t have life insurance – or other financial means to protect his family, then shame on him. This kind of result teaches that planning doesn\’t matter and that if tragedy strikes, someone else should have to pick up the pieces. That\’s just wrong.
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I was amazed recently when I turned in a shoplifter, and learned that the store security would not even stop the shoplifter, nor call the police. This due to the liability judgments made in the past in favor of shoplifters that brought suits for being stopped. This man was stuffing merchandise in his clothes and tossing the security tags on the bathroom floor. Pretty obvious stuff. \”We can\’t stop him unless we see it happening ourselves,\” they said.
Law enforcement entails some degree of risk. Sometimes a bystander gets hurt or killed. While there should be a standard of compensation when this happens, judgments shouldn\’t force police departments to avoid pursuing criminals altogether. Otherwise, we forfeit the good of the whole (effective law) enforcement, for the sake of an individual or his survivors that want to hit the lottery. Life is risk. Police shouldn\’t have to pay more than a fixed amount. If he didn\’t have life insurance – or other financial means to protect his family, then shame on him. This kind of result teaches that planning doesn\’t matter and that if tragedy strikes, someone else should have to pick up the pieces. That\’s just wrong.