ABSTRACT

The Supreme Court has addressed a number of issues involving police liability, including who can be sued, who can be held liable and under what circumstances, for what specific acts officers may be held liable, what defenses are available in police liability cases, and what level of negligence is required for police administrators and their employers to be held liable. The cases briefed in this chapter represent the more significant cases decided by the Supreme Court on police civil liability. The leading cases briefed in this chapter on legal liabilities are City of Canton v. Harris, Board of the County Commissioners of Bryan County, Oklahoma v. Brown, and County of Sacramento v. Lewis.