[Ajedi32]

> This is just a different bad incentive; it incentivizes police to completely ignore situations

If the societal cost of enforcement exceeds the societal cost of non-enforcement, then perhaps they should ignore the situation.

> or to find someone to hold accountable

This is why it would have to be decided by a judge as part of sentencing. If they're actually accountable then why shouldn't they be held to that?

> Just extend the logic to the other expenses of an investigation- hourly pay, overtime, materials, forensics. Making a criminal pay for their own arrest is a terrible idea.

I don't necessarily disagree, but just to play devil's advocate: why? It's their fault the public had to spend money on this, so why shouldn't they pay for it? (One argument I can think of is that for small crimes the cost of enforcement may greatly exceed the bounds of reasonable punishment for the offense, but what about when that's not the case?)

> Those things are not related to the crime itself

I'd argue exchanging gunfire with police is definitely a big part of the crime committed in this case. The shoplifting that started the encounter is practically irrelevant compared to that.

[fc417fc802]

Broadly agree with you and would like to add that if in this particular case the department had expected to foot the bill for their destruction I imagine they would have readily found a slower but cheaper approach. They went with the fast, expedient, and above all exciting (for them) approach precisely because they knew they wouldn't be the ones paying for the aftermath.

> It's their fault the public had to spend money on this, so why shouldn't they pay for it?

How about transparency and uniform enforcement of the law? Fines should be formally codified, not implicit and variable depending on incidentals internal to that particular investigation. The legislature is always free to direct those proceeds wherever they would like.

[hwillis]

> > or to find someone to hold accountable > This is why it would have to be decided by a judge as part of sentencing. If they're actually accountable then why shouldn't they be held to that?

I am more insinuating that it will lead to much more falsified evidence- something that is already a problem even while completely shielding them from consequences.

> why? It's their fault the public had to spend money on this, so why shouldn't they pay for it?

Because that isn't really accountability, practically speaking. The department funding is very distantly coupled to personal impact. When a division of a company does badly, they don't cut its funding as a form of incentive or punishment. Individual performance is done through the system of management and personal incentive. You don't want to fund the police based on how many crimes they solve- you do it based on how much crime exists. Likewise you shouldn't cut funding for bad policing- it's something that can also just be actively managed instead of simplified to a budgetary concern.