Officer Outcomes

There is a wide range of possible repercussions after an officer's actions in an incident, including:

Administrative: The officer's agency can investigate an incident, which can result in clearing the officer of any wrongdoing, suspending the officer, or terminating the officer. The agency may be able to affect the officer's pension. The state's licensing board may choose to revoke the officer's certification. Note that Qualified Immunity does not apply in administrative proceedings.
Criminal: A local, state, or federal prosecutor can file charges against the officer, which can result in a conviction, an acquittal, or a reduced sentence through a plea bargain. If convicted, the officer would then be sentenced and possibly incarcerated. Note that Qualified Immunity does not apply in criminal proceedings.
Civil: The victim of an officer's actions (or their heirs) can file a civil lawsuit against the officer, which can result in a settlement, a dismissal, or a judgment (award).

Please see the following pages for officers whose incidents fall into these categories. Remember that the information is based on what we've been able to find, and is certainly not complete for this reason (e.g. the media may not cover when an officer who was convicted and sentenced is actually incarcerated).

This categorization began after several hundred officers were added to the site.  We are in the process of updating the old officers, and all new officers will have these categories.  We'll remove this message when the backlog has been cleared.