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State, local, and federal governments have spent billions of dollars over the past decade settling police misconduct cases, which include everything from deadly shootings to neglect.
For example, the Louisville Police Department paid out $12 million to the family of Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police in her home in March.
But most settlements don’t make the news and law enforcement agencies are not uniformly required to make that information publicly available.
As a result, taxpayers in many localities are left to their own devices to ascertain how much of their money goes towards police settlements, and to what degree state and local government budgets are impacted by the payments is unclear.
Also often obscured are important details about the people involved — what happens to the officers who commit misconduct, particularly when cases don’t receive national attention, and who the people affected by negative police action are.
The Cost of Police Misconduct Act, a new bill from Rep. Don Beyer, the incoming chair of the US Congress Joint Economic Committee, seeks to change that…
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