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    Join Date
    Apr 2011
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    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    (Philadelphia County)
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    Exclamation Call/Email your REPS! Russ Diamond Needs Your Help To Amend PA Act 111

    Rep. Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon) is seeking COSPONSORS to his bill to amend the Pennsylvania qualified immunity law:

    https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs...cosponId=31942


    This law was first enacted in 1964. It provides immunity to public officials for a large series of actions they take. Unfortunately that Act also provides immunity to officials and officers of law enforcement who commit crimes by requiring a full adjudication of their crime first before a question about their action can be dealt with.

    Defenders of police abuse this act in several ways:

    • They know that juries will hold crimes committed by law enforcement officers to a "higher standard of doubt" than civillians. Mock trials with control group jurors consistently show juror bias towards police officers accused of crime
    • Act 111 allows your local town to hash out a labor agreement with zero public input and in most cases (like that in Philadelphia), the contract is committed by the taxpayers before they are even allowed to read it. Mayors sign these agreements in a closed-door meeting in a hotel ballroom. You never get to find out how you got shafted until after it's done
    • Arbitration is consistently used as a shield to protect cops who have abused state and Federal policing regulations (i.e. use of force, suspect handling, reporting, etc)


    The key change being discussed to Act 111 is to nullify any clause in any police labor contract signed in this Commonwealth that proscribes binding arbitration if an officer is found to have committed a triable crime before a grand jury, has been found to violate state or Federal regulations regarding the handling of suspects, use of force or lies or destroys documentation and evidence, or is charged by their employer to be consistently violating civil rights of civillians.

    What does this mean? It means that if the cop's employer directly fires that individual on the basis of those specific reasons I just mentioned, the police union contract will not be recognized by a court in this Commonwealth. The employer is not required to attend an arbitration hearing and even if the police union organizes one, any finding made will not be recognized.

    This means that an officer who is fired through this manner only has one route of appeal: filing a lawsuit to get their job back. The union could of course support that officer and give him supply (find him a lawyer and pay him), but at increased cost than a routine arbitration service which is at a fraction of the cost of a lawsuit.

    Further: courts are an open process. The entire contents of that cop's personnel file would be entered into evidence and become public knowledge. This is the accountability aspect that is so often missing in cases of police misconduct.


    If we are to put an end to the cycle of a police shooting happening somewhere followed by BLM marches in the streets, this is one of the measures that will put that to an end. This bill strengthens our rights as civillians.

    Call your state rep and ask him or her to CALL RUSS DIAMOND'S OFFICE and consider getting on board to crafting this bill!!!



    Last edited by ArcticSplash; June 19th, 2020 at 12:09 PM.

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