Mayor says he will no longer pay legal bills for police officers being sued

Eagle Tribune
Feb. 21, 2011

This is great, no doubt perhaps the biggest contributor to police abuse is the total lack of any personal accountability, if you subsidize police abuse by paying their court costs you are going to get more of it, if you let them pay the price for their own abuses you will get less.

Realistically, people should be demanding police must pay the entirety of their legal bills personally, just as every other pleb has to. - Chris, InfoLib LAWRENCE — Mayor William Lantigua says he will no longer pay legal bills for police officers being sued, including the bills for those officers involved in nine brutality cases pending in U.S. District Court.

The mayor says over the past three years, the city has spent $1.2 million to defend officers in civil cases. Instead, Lantigua says he will hold to the police unions' contract, which says the city only has to pay the $5,000 retainer for a patrolman and $7,500 for a superior officer. Lantigua says officers have two options when they are being sued — to use one of the three city attorneys or have their unions pay for the defense.

"From Day One, this should never have been allowed. We cannot continue to do business as usual," Lantigua said.

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