Ya know, it would be nice if every time a cop had any contact with a suspected criminal (after they are detained or before any qwuestions are asked) everyone got a freee lawyer on the spot. Something has to be done to keep these cops in check and stop them from constantly threatening with the color of law and getting away with it.
@volkris the problem is the cops wont care about time wasted, the department might but individual cops are like toddlers, they arent thinking that far ahead.
I doubt a department would act against the officer eitherthey will just demand the extra cost stops them from doing their job, go over budget and let the tax payers sort it out like they already do.
@volkris They just wont fire people, they will let their budget go to 0 and then they wont be able to afford peoples "compensation". Cant pay people their compensation if its all gone on salary first.
@freemo I don't know how you expect to pay people out of a $0 budget!
@volkris Thats exactly my point, salaries always must be paid first legally speaking so the only consequence will be there is nothing left to pay the people in the end.
@freemo That's only true, legally speaking, if that's what the law says!
Yes, there would have to be a law saying cops owe people compensation for their time. And there's no particular reason that the law can't explicitly say that the compensation takes priority over pay. It might even be implicitly true even if it's not made explicit that way.
Police departments do run out of money in the real world, and they even have to close down and fire all the cops occasionally. I know if at least one instance of exactly that happening, when some officers really screwed up and the costs of dealing with their screw up broke the budget of the department, so they had to fold, firing everybody.
If the department has to give up conveniences and then has salaries at risk because officers are detaining people without justifiable reason, they're going to feel that pain.
@volkris Ok yea I guess you could do that, especially if someone else controls the money that isnt a cop friend or something.. But I still think the only result of that will be more money spent and nothing solved... and a lot of people running down the street naked begging to be arrested :)
@freemo Oh but to be clear, a person who's guilty of something with $1,000 fine might be given 20 bucks for their time but they still have to pay the $1,000 fine!
@volkris Sure but they will also be happy to not pay the bail and sit in jail for a year just for the free meal and free pay... stay long enough your paid more than they fine you at some point.
@freemo firstly, hey free pay for the people that get stopped!
Honestly the part of my plan I worry about the most is people intentionally looking guilty trying to be stopped to make a quick buck.
But the cops don't get to just raise taxes on their own.
The department would have to stand in front of city councils, legislatures, etc, to explain why money needs to be diverted from schools and other popular programs, or why taxes need to be raised, because some jerks of officers keep harassing citizens without showing results.
When the department sees its budget trashed to the point where it needs to start firing people, they're going to fire the offenders first, which is a pretty good reason not to be an offender.