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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsInsurers force change on police departments long resistant to it
I was wondering when this would happen. I kept seeing large settlements in lawsuits due to police actions and was wondering when the insurance companies would start stepping in. It is nice to see that insurance companies are forcing some police departments to stop acting recklessly
Link to tweet
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/police-misconduct-insurance-settlements-reform/?tid=ss_tw
Undeterred, St. Ann Police Chief Aaron Jimenez stood behind the high-octane pursuits and doubled down on the departments decades-old motto: St. Ann will chase you until the wheels fall off.
Then, an otherwise silent stakeholder stepped in. The St. Louis Area Insurance Trust risk pool which provided liability coverage to the city of St. Ann and the police department threatened to cancel coverage if the department didnt impose restrictions on its use of police chases. City officials shopped around for alternative coverage but soon learned that costs would nearly double if they did not agree to their insurers demands.
Jimenezs attitude swiftly shifted: In 2019, 18 months after the chase that left Cox permanently disabled, the chief and his 48-member department agreed to ban high-speed pursuits for traffic infractions and minor, nonviolent crimes.
I didnt really have a choice, Jimenez said in an interview. If I didnt do it, the insurance rates were going to go way up. I was going to have to lose 10 officers to pay for it.
Where community activists, use-of-force victims and city officials have failed to persuade police departments to change dangerous and sometimes deadly policing practices, insurers are successfully dictating changes to tactics and policies, mostly at small to medium-size departments throughout the nation.
Then, an otherwise silent stakeholder stepped in. The St. Louis Area Insurance Trust risk pool which provided liability coverage to the city of St. Ann and the police department threatened to cancel coverage if the department didnt impose restrictions on its use of police chases. City officials shopped around for alternative coverage but soon learned that costs would nearly double if they did not agree to their insurers demands.
Jimenezs attitude swiftly shifted: In 2019, 18 months after the chase that left Cox permanently disabled, the chief and his 48-member department agreed to ban high-speed pursuits for traffic infractions and minor, nonviolent crimes.
I didnt really have a choice, Jimenez said in an interview. If I didnt do it, the insurance rates were going to go way up. I was going to have to lose 10 officers to pay for it.
Where community activists, use-of-force victims and city officials have failed to persuade police departments to change dangerous and sometimes deadly policing practices, insurers are successfully dictating changes to tactics and policies, mostly at small to medium-size departments throughout the nation.
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Insurers force change on police departments long resistant to it (Original Post)
LetMyPeopleVote
Dec 2022
OP
RainCaster
(10,914 posts)1. Insurance can mean changes where nothing else has worked
I'm thinking about gun control here. If everyone is required to have liability insurance, the next step is high premiums for those with massive collections of assault rifles.
orthoclad
(2,910 posts)2. And also climate-change measures
Insurers are getting tired of paying out for catastrophes, which will onky keep getting worse.