Policing is on a lot of minds these days. Liability insurance is probably not. But insurance has far more to do with policing than you might think. In fact, insurance may be a neglected backdoor route to police reform — a practical way to make a true impact on police misbehavior.

Municipalities across the country purchase insurance policies that reimburse them when they’re held liable for harm their law enforcement officers inflict. These policies are broad, often covering intentional acts like assault and battery and discrimination as well as so-called “punitive damages,” which are meant to punish egregious misbehavior. This arrangement creates a potentially serious moral hazard problem—a risk that insured municipalities will be less vigilant to prevent police misconduct than they’d be in the absence of insurance. But, importantly, it also positions insurers, in the name of what they call “loss prevention,” to act as “private regulators” of police activity. Indeed, in my recent research, I show how insurers do just that. This is why I said that liability insurance may be a viable route to police reform. At the very least, it should be part of the ongoing conversation.

Read more at The Washington Post