Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: JUNE 2016 7 by Mark Nichols A ccording to a recent report from National Public Radio, many large insurance companies are actively pushing changes in law en- forcement patterns and prac- tices as a way to cut down on the cost of lawsuits. N P R spoke with John Rap- paport, an assistant law professor at the University of Chicago. He’s studied public safety and policing issues for years but never asked a very basic question: What were the in- surance companies doing? “I just went on to Google and started searching and was amazed with the stuff I was finding,” Rappaport told reporters. It turns out that many insurance companies are working to limit the liability of the police departments they cover. “One of the first things I found was this pamphlet from Travelers Insurance about how to do a strip search. I thought people in my world have no idea that this stuff is out there and it’s really fascinating,” Rappa- port said. For cities and counties, insurance payouts related to lawsuits against law en- forcement are a major cost of doing business. Like any successful private enterprise, making money on insurance is about reduc- ing risk and cost. As a result, insurance companies are taking a more “hands on” approach. “They look for ways to push police departments in a direction of re- duced risk,” Rap- paport says. But different in- surers take differ- ent approaches. Some compa- nies just send out bulletins to po- lice departments about the latest court precedents on, say, use of force. But increasingly, insur- ance companies are getting more involved. Some are even paying for special training for the police departments in order to reduce risk and liability. Insurance giants are interested in law enforcement One of the folks that of- fers this kind of training is former veteran officer Steve Albrecht. “We’re seeing forward- thinking chiefs and forward- thinking insurance compa- nies that are working in part- nership and I think that’s a benefit. And I think if that’s driven by the business part of that then so much the better to get the changes we need,” Albrecht says. The takeaway here is that what the federal government can’t do, private enterprise probably can. “Ultimately, the way we can influence behavior does come down to price,” Tim McAuliffe, who’s with a commercial insurer called Ironshore, told NPR. Unlike the feds, the insur- ance companies know that Big carriers encouraging agencies to improve training to reduce risks They are highly motivated because it affects their bottom line, and they’re not constrained by any of the political counterforces that could prevent the city council from pushing hard on a law enforcement agency to reform. police won’t find the idea of insurance companies informing policy very attrac- tive so they try and keep a low profile. Joanna Schwartz is a law professor at UCLA who studies how police manage liability. She says because insur- ance companies are worried only about the bottom line, they can influence agencies and officers in a way that public officials simply can- not. “They are highly moti- vated to reform because it affects their bottom line, and they’re not constrained by any of the political counter- forces that could prevent the city council or mayor from pushing hard on a law en- forcement agency to make changes,” Schwartz said. Minimimizing LOSSES 6HVVLRQVDUHDYDLODEOHGXULQJWKH1DWLRQDO3ROLFH6XUYLYRUV·&RQIHUHQFHIRU&R:RUNHUVRIDQRIÀFHUZKRGLHGLQWKHOLQHRIGXW\LQ RUSUHYLRXV\HDUV7KHUHLVDOVRDVHVVLRQDYDLODEOHIRUWKHVSRXVHVVLJQLÀFDQWRWKHUVDQGGRPHVWLFSDUWQHUVRIVXUYLYLQJ&R:RUNHUV 7KHVHVHVVLRQVDUHKHOGDWWKH+LOWRQ$OH[DQGULD0DUN&HQWHULQ$OH[DQGULD9$DQGDUHFREEKRZHYHU\RX0867UHJLVWHURQOLQH 7RUHJLVWHUDQGJHWPRUHGHWDLOVDERXW1DWLRQDO3ROLFH:HHNYLVLW National Police Survivors’ Conference 2016 0D\ 0D\:DVKLQJWRQ'&(during National Police Week) www.nationalcops.org National Police Week 2QFHWKHUH click on this tab!