[donna]

Conservatives don't believe in trial lawyer invented theft of public taxes.

Some cop is always going to make a bad decision about something. That's no reason for one person (and his lawyer) to get rich.

Give the money back to the taxpayer and fire the chief of police. That'll be a better solution.

[Norm Lenhart]

Except it does not work that way in real life. The system is what it is. Sucks, but that’s the recourse.

If the law made cops personally liable there would be no cops. Am I happy that taxpayers get screwed? No. But if they keep electing idiot liberals that make dog shooting a priority in contact with the public, they deserve what they get.

[Emperor Palpatine]

Bullsh*t!

The sooner the taxpayers understand these idiots are doing this in their name the better.

They voted for this. let them suffer the consequences.

When it comews to dogs, take your purist principles and shove ‘em, okay?

[jaydee770]

Give the money back to the taxpayer and fire the chief of police. That'll be a better solution

Conservatives believe in holding elected and public officials accountable and the courts are precisely where the founding fathers preferred to address civil torts & crimes. The scale of the award can be argued as excessive or not, but it arose out of the courts and was determined by a jury.

A citizen has little power to fire the chief. However, a pattern of large jury awards for the same/similar issue becomes a political problem as it *finally* starts getting the taxpaying voters attention, among other aspects. And it is the taxpaying voter who elects the leadership that employs the mis/mal-feasant Barney-Fife's. On the other hand, if the taxpaying voter (footing the bill for these awards) keeps electing mis/mal-feasant leadership, then clearly the voters of that jurisdiction (as a whole) tolerate/prefer the situation.

[Reeses]

fire the chief of police.

Many civil penalties should be just like criminal: toss the perpetrators in jail for a bit. It would even be good for traffic tickets. Instead of highway robbery, have a driver do an hour or two in jail or traffic school. The incentive to officially loot people makes for corrupt money motivated cops and judges. Justice does not equal a transfer of money.