PPD lawsuit/class action

Submitted by cray0508 t3_10yavo2 in philadelphia

Disclaimer: I don't know how these things work beyond surface level, hence the post. It seems pretty widespread that the PPD "doesn't do their job". Regardless of the reason/excuse, there are so, so many stories of people basically doing the PPD's job for them, handing them evidence on a silver platter for stolen vehicles, bikes, home invasions, etc. and they're met with "sorry, nothing we can do", which in reality means sorry, we have bigger fish to fry or, we're making a soft strike statement.

My question is, why hasn't there been a lawsuit brought by the city or a class action suit brought by the people to set the department straight? Why have we just resigned to living this way? I know an election is upcoming, but why do we need to wait for an election cycle and hope for change? At what point can this become a legal issue?

Or, has there been that I'm not aware of? What was the outcome? Seemingly not positive considering the current situation we're still in.

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Fattom23 t1_j7x4st0 wrote

From my understanding, police officers do not have a legally enforceable, affirmative duty to help even if they see a crime being committed right in front of them. It's hard to know we could sue them for under those circumstances.

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iamnotabiv t1_j7xghsj wrote

One relevant court case is Warren v. District of Columbia. A more recent one is Castle Rock v. Gonzalez.

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Fattom23 t1_j7xhs30 wrote

Yes, OP: listen to this Redditor, who knows far more than me.

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yaboiballman t1_j7ydj0b wrote

First, I am not a lawyer. Second, didn't they also rule this regarding the shootings in Uvalde?

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Fattom23 t1_j7z3pbw wrote

That's how I initially became aware of this fact. I was pretty shocked when I first heard it.

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gnartato t1_j80dokb wrote

If you can only sue them when they fuck up they will do fuck all to stop crimes. They need to be constitutionally obligated to serve and protect toe public.

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AgentDaxis t1_j7zwqkm wrote

And this right here is why police forces should be disbanded & replaced with actual law enforcement entities.

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starshiprarity t1_j7x7fbs wrote

The police have basically no legally mandated duty and have always been granted the authority to determine how much they enforce whatever laws they wish to. This is actually a better outcome than the alternative of mandating absolute compliance because they're not lawyers and would be constantly in trouble for being either over or under zealous while they grapple with what is or is not a chargeable offense.

PPD is of course taking this discretion to extremes. But there's very little that can be done by anyone outside of the federal government. Due to supreme court precedent and the power of the fraternal order of police, it would take a literal act of congress. That congress would then immediately face their toughest reelection, as would the sitting president, allowing it to immediately be undone

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QuidProJoe2020 t1_j7x7u0i wrote

There is no duty to protect.

As long as a cops actions dont put you in a worst position, you cant sue them for failing to do their job. Is it stupid? Yea, but thats the law.

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[deleted] t1_j7x4j1l wrote

[deleted]

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Glystopher t1_j7xqb7s wrote

Fuck yeah let’s rout city council and government, I’m in!

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LurkersWillLurk t1_j7x2217 wrote

Police have immunity and can’t be sued for not doing their jobs

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cray0508 OP t1_j7x2yct wrote

Lawsuits have been brought against other police departments around the country

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Gorilla1969 t1_j7x5sl2 wrote

Payouts from lawsuits come out of the city's budget, not the PD's. Which is one of the reasons that they can so casually refuse to do their jobs properly.

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Vexithan t1_j7z28ki wrote

Police departments are built in such a way that they’re protected from just about every kind of lawsuit imaginable. How many other jobs have that kind of protection?!

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greatbrownbear t1_j7zolja wrote

The police are involved in a huge lawsuit with the protestors, and residents of west philly who were tear gassed during the George Floyd protests. It's on-going still and it's not class action, but should cause some waves.

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pasnow t1_j80388r wrote

That's literally the exact opposite of what the OPs referring to. The police did see a crime being committed, they did something, and they were the ones who were sued.

Maybe that's why they've given up.

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greatbrownbear t1_j807yiw wrote

"they did something", what a low bar for you. They'd rather sadistically terrorize high schoolers protesting police brutality, than do a damn thing about the rising crime rate.

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LFKhael t1_j7zp0rh wrote

That's just going to be another payout from our taxes that'll cost some department unrelated to the PPD.

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RufusLaButte t1_j7yz3fi wrote

There is no legal way to force the police to do anything within our interests. Hence the protests almost 3 years ago.

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ArgentumFlame t1_j7zgfjn wrote

It takes time for our legal system to do anything. I have a friend who was on 676 when the cops corralled and gassed the protestors a few years back and that class action lawsuit is just now coming to fruition.

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pasnow t1_j803zdy wrote

frivilous lawsuit. Don't stand on a highway in the middle of rush hour & there's a good chance they wouldn't have been pepper sprayed.

Idiocy. They lawyers will get paid out, your friends gonna get peanuts, in about 7-8 years when the payouts begin :)

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Mcjibblies t1_j7zq6t6 wrote

Bottom line, the Union is too strong

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AKraiderfan t1_j7zz57k wrote

To quote the bastard Andrew Jackson: "John Marshall has made his decision, ; now let him enforce it."

Lawsuits brought on by individuals are only good to address smaller issues. Slightly better is the lawsuits brought on by a federal agency, but even they have their limits (see the show "We own this city"), because they have some level of enforcement and supervision, they still don't technically have direct power to hire and fire, and the problem with PPD is inaction, not criminality (in general).

There are certain thing that must change only through elections, and this is probably one of them. Not just the mayoral position, but the council positions too, to have the collective representatives be politically aligned against the PPD's bullshit. That's going to be difficult, because there are certain parts of NE Philly and South Philly that are going to scream "Support your law enforcement officers!" even as they get their teeth knocked out by cops, and those words start sounding funny without teeth.

TLDR: not a legal issue, it is a political issue, and it is hard to change.

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