NCJ Number
144718
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 41 Issue: 8 Dated: (August 1993) Pages: 84-89
Date Published
1993
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article examines whether or not police personnel have a constitutional right to sue their police administration/supervisor under 42 U.S. Code 1983 if the deliberate indifference to training and/or equipment leads to the proximate result of their injury.
Abstract
Inadequate training, supervision, and discipline with approximate causal connection between the inadequate training and the harm sustained creates a foreseeable risk of harm. An officer who confronts an unreasonable risk lacking training, support, and/or equipment is self-imposing a "zone of danger," creating a foreseeable excessive risk of harm to both the citizen and to the officer himself/herself. Case law indicates that liability can be imposed on a municipality when a "deliberate indifference" exhibited by a pattern of inadequate training is shown. An officer's deficient training may be the substantial factor in creating a causal link between training deficiencies and risk/harm to others. A particular officer's unsatisfactory training cannot alone suffice to attach 1983 liability, however, nor can a plaintiff prevail merely by proving that the accident/injury could have been avoided had the officer received enhanced training. If, however, the training and supervision was outrageous and inadequate, a jury is authorized to infer the existence of inadequate training and supervision policies solely from a single incident.