NCJ Number
191966
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 49 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2001 Pages: 73-77
Date Published
October 2001
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the new Supreme Court standard for potential liability and increased liability for law enforcement agencies in the failure to train, or adequately train, a single officer. The article reviews the legal history of various Supreme Court rulings and findings, specifically the Board of County Commissioners v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 1997.
Abstract
Prior to recent liability claims and court rulings, police departments with generally good training programs were safe from liability claims on inadequate training of officers. However, today the failure to train a single officer is becoming the theory of choice or the new standard in liability claims against police departments and other government entities, as read in the Supreme Court’s language in Board of County Commissioners v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 1997. This paper reviews the legal history behind various Supreme Court decisions on police liability and failure to train claims since 1985. In addition to the new standard of liability for failure to train, departments can also be held liable for improper training. Police departments need not only ensure that officers are trained, but ensure that training is appropriate. With this new standard of increased potential liability, departments may need to reprioritize their spending and move training up the ladder of the budget process. The goal is to show the court that the officer received or was provided the training that it was claimed he or she lacked.