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Comment by plandis | Hacker News Reader

This might sound counterintuitive but let's say the cop admitted to some mistake? Say, slapping a cellphone out of the hand of some random person. What's the outcome? Punishment? More education?

Basically I'm wondering what is so bad for the cop afterward that they would rather try to cover up a simple mistake?

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The most proximate risk is that your colleagues will no longer trust you to "cover their asses". That usually results in you being driven out of the department or worse.

You're usually not talking about a "mistake" (although that happens too, eg, cops arresting someone after accidentally hitting them in a crosswalk), you're talking about an intentional on-street retaliation for affronting their honor.

Cops have near impenetrable immunity (qualified immunity), so there's little legal harm to them in walking away when they're wrong, unless they did something grossly illegal and it's on camera somewhere. I think it's human nature - they're in a position of power, their victim must comply with all their requests and any resistance is punishable severely, so they turn into bullies.

Best case scenario, civil liability for the police department. Which makes the employee (police officer) and his chain of command appear as a "problem" within the police department. These guys are protecting their reputations and their careers. They are also trying to protect their department. Shameful.

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