Qualified Immunity for Law Enforcement Officers Society’s Best Interest

Qualified immunity is the doctrine established by the United States Supreme Court in the late 1960s which prevents an officer from being held personally liable from lawsuits alleging the officer violated a person’s rights (Mihalek, 2020). Qualified immunity balances societies need to hold law enforcement officers accountable for their actions with the officers need to be protected from personal liability when they are acting in good faith in the performance of their duties (Legal Information Institute, n.d.a). There have been calls to strip law enforcement officers of qualified immunity, to hold them accountable for their actions. Qualified immunity should be retained for law enforcement because it protects them from frivolous lawsuits, allows them to perform their duties in life and death confrontations without fear of being held personally liable, and preserves the rule of law and community order. If qualified immunity is stripped from law enforcement there will be an exodus of trained, experienced, professional law enforcement officers which will result in a rise in violent criminal behavior, anarchy, and vigilantism, making the United States an unsafe place to live.