Citizens Need Recourse Against Those Depriving Them of Their Rights

As it stands, unless a government employee is convicted of a felony against a citizen, the citizen may well be unable to get compensation for his injuries.

In the case of a cop who has exceeded his authority, as some have done with warrantless home invasions, the dead victim is out of luck. Just another death by cop.

Now, most cops are decent guys. They work within the law. They do no use their guns without a reasonable cause - like being fired upon.

The few who do are too often in those units that treat the average citizen as a likely perp. These would, often, be the drug units. I'm generally skeptical of legalization, as my former profession as a teacher leads me to be suspicious that the outcome would result in massive increase in drugs in schools.

However, one beneficial outcome of the end of the drug war would be disbanding these units, and likely reducing the number of shooting incidents.

So, how would that change work?

Cops would have to get insurance that pays the victims of an unjustified shooting. Those cops that have a higher number of incidents would be rated to pay more. It's a use of market forces to rein in those cowboy cops.

Many professionals already do this - dentists, teachers, doctors, attorneys. With the union and county-wide or state-wide government entities working to get group coverage, the cost shouldn't be prohibitive.