Justice Archives - KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show · Burt Cohen

Shielded: How Did Police Become Untouchable?

·58 min·4 clips

Bert Cohen opens by asking what it means to be shielded from the repercussions of your actions. He ties that idea to qualified immunity in policing. Joanna Schwartz joins to explain how the law treats police officers differently in practice. The conversation keeps circling back to democracy and public accountability. Cohen pushes on the idea that people say they love the Constitution. Schwartz answers by focusing on the Fourth Amendment. She defines it through unreasonable searches and seizures. The key issue becomes reasonableness. Under current Supreme Court doctrine, that reasonableness is judged from the perspective of the police officer on the scene. That standard matters. It can excuse conduct a civilian would call plainly unreasonable. Schwartz says officers can arrest, shoot, kill, assault, or search someone and still avoid a constitutional violation if the action is deemed objectively reasonable. Cohen reacts with disbelief and keeps pressing on the practical effects. The episode uses the language of public accountability rather than legal jargon alone. It also nods to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other cases of police violence. The show notes that body cameras and cell phone cameras changed what the public can see. Cohen and Schwartz move from diagnosis toward the question of what should actually change. Schwartz rejects defunding the police as a simple answer and argues the problem needs more complex solutions. The conversation ends on a cautiously hopeful note, with both host and guest saying improvement is possible if people act.

As heard by us

A hard look at why police accountability can remain so difficult to secure.

Qualified immunity anchors this conversation, using a single legal doctrine to show how police can avoid consequences after harm. Bert Cohen opens the topic, and Joanna Schwartz lays out the Fourth Amendment, the police-officer standard of reasonableness, and the distance…

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Why you'd press play

You want the legal logic behind qualified immunity, not just the outrage.

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