It is precisely that we are talking about punishing a department for the illegal actions of an employee rather than individual citizens who were punished for an imaginary and totally invented crime that should inform you of the difference. But since it’s not clear to you, let me help.
When an employee of a business commits a crime, we need to look to see if that crime was individually motivated or if it is part of the policy of that business. In this case, the city defended the actions of this cop which tells us they stand behind his actions. From this defense and the doubling down of it under appeal, we can conclude that his actions were consistent with department and city policy. So, if we were to punish the individual for performing in a manner consistent with department and city policy, we would be in the wrong for singling him out for punishment. Indeed, the only reasonable course is to apply punishment to the city and police department for fostering this kind of criminality and why it is appropriate that everyone be punished equally since no one did anything to correct the problem.
San Bernardino will pay $390k to settle suit against cop who arrested 7th graders "to prove a point"
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