If you were a reckless driver, if you engaged in multiple instances of drunk driving, multiple citations, or at-fault traffic accidents, your insurance would go sky-high. And you would be priced out of driving. 

Much the way that drivers with terrible records may be forced off the roads by high premiums, officers with the most dangerous histories, tendencies, and indicators might be "priced-out" of policing by premiums that reflect their actual risk of unjustified violence.

We propose an innovative, market-based solution - mandatory individual professional liability insurance for police officers.

Under the current system, powerful police unions have effectively tied the hands of police chiefs to discipline officers or remove reckless officers from the streets. 

Many studies have shown the vast amount of citizen complaints are the result of a small group of officers. And those officers are responsible for hundreds of millions in settlements every year, which taxpayers foot the bill for. Those settlements come from municipal budgets that are meant to improve our neighborhoods, not subsidize the misconduct of a handful of officers.

Insurance companies, an outside third-party removed from local politics and control of police unions, would be in an ideal position to assess indicators of risk actuarially and set premiums accordingly. Cities can pay for the baseline coverage but individual officers would be responsible for paying any increased premiums based on their personal history and risk indicators.

Potential reductions or increases in premiums would create systemic effects by incentivizing both departments and individual officers to adopt policies, training, and procedures that are proven to lower risk.

The best prediction of reckless, dangerous policing is past dangerous policing. Those are early warning indicators that the insurance companies can use to begin to intervene early.

Empirically rigorous evidence suggests these indicators exist, that the most dangerous officers are identifiable and relatively rare. For example, Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who choked Eric Garner, had more sustained civilian complaints than 98% of the NYPD, and he was named in two civil suits alleging civil rights violations in the year before the incident. Derek Chauvin had at least 17 prior misconduct complaints. If they had paid an insurance premium commensurate with their record, perhaps they would have been forced to find another profession. Perhaps Eric Garner and George Floyd would still be alive.

Ironically, a similar bill was rejected by the Minneapolis City Council in 2016. But it's time to put this matter on the ballots in every city. It's time we restore public trust in law enforcement by weeding out those that hurt communities on both sides of the thin blue line.

If this petition reaches 1,000,000 signatures, we will develop community legislation action kits to enable anyone to present this solution convincingly to their local city and county governments. Let's separate the Good Cops from the Bad and help bring Equal Justice Under The Law to all communities in this nation.

To read extensive research on this subject or to contact us please visit the Good Cop Bad Cop website.

Accountability Matters When Building Trust

When individuals distrust or otherwise develop negative perceptions toward the police force - including the belief that officers act unlawfully, - it affects their willingness to recognize its authority, report a crime, and act as witnesses. 

This, in turn, hinders officers' ability to protect and serve effectively, putting both our communities and officers at extreme risk.

Our hope is that just as drivers with established histories of reckless driving can be priced off the road by insurance premiums, so too, the most dangerous officers might be forced into another profession, before another tragedy happens. 

This approach has the potential to break open a stagnant status quo in which we all await the seemingly inevitable news of another tragic shooting or needless death.

Please Sign This Petition then share on all your social media profiles. Let's raise the bar and move to rebuild trust through accountability.

To read extensive research on this subject or to contact us please visit the Good Cop Bad Cop website.