You make excellent points. I agree in general.
The topic of qualified immunity is a touchy one. It can be a great shield, or a terrible cloak. But generally for QI to apply, the officer must be reasonably following his training and SOP/protocols/policies. QI exists so that officers who do follow their departmental directives and state laws won't be sued or charged. Conversely, if an officer does not follow training and policy, then QI typically does not apply to them; they're exposed to suit and being charged.
Would you want to a job where you might get sued even though you followed all appropriate training and policy? This was the conundrum of the recent debacle in NM where the Gov directed an Emergency Order edict which most agree is a violation of the 2A. She wanted police officers to arrest people for just carrying guns in Albuquerque (and surrounding county). However, she (and the NM state legislature) recently eliminated the QI provisions in NM. So any cop who arrested someone for carrying a gun under her EO would be subject to civil suit. Talk about a conundrum !!!! Your boss directs you to arrest someone in clear violation of their civil rights, and has already stripped away your immunity for doing so. This is why many LEO agencies said they would not enforce the Emergency Order; with QI stripped away, any officer and/or agency that followed the EO was also likely to be sued for a violation of federal and state civil rights. These are the very reasons QI exists. Don't blame an officer for following policy and training; only blame an officer when he doesn't follow policy and training.
As for LEOs being protected by their unions, well, that's the way the system is supposed to work. If a union didn't make concerted efforts to protect their members, they could be sued for failure to provide representation/coverage. It's the same way when a UAW person is brought up for disciplinary actions; the company prosecutes and the union defends.
LEOs get special treatment for good reason. While they do hold a huge amount of responsibility, they also assume a huge amount of risk to their own life/limb. For a doctor or nurse, the patient really isn't life threatening to them. I agree there may be civil and legal consequences down the road, but pretty much every doctor/nurse has little fear of not going home at the end of their shift. Same is said for most of the other professions I mentioned (with the exception of firefighters). LE is the one service profession that has to make split second decisions simultaneously for the suspect's life, the public's life and the officer's life, while keeping in mind all the policies and training as the poo-show unravels in front of them. On top of that, now add in some screaming bystanders shoving cell-phone cameras in your face, and it's full-blown circus. Any officer that can keep his cool, affect the arrest, and does so while following policy, deserves to be protected by QI. Take away QI and no person in their right mind would ever take a LEO job in the future.
