The Michigan Supreme Court last week ruled that police officers cannot be prosecuted for lying to investigators looking into possible violations of the law, citing a state law that gives them immunity whenever they are forced to testify about anything.





The case involves three police officers in Detroit, one of whom was accused of beating a suspect in custody while the other two watched. An internal investigation was launched and all three officers denied that any such abuse took place. Then, as happens today with increasing frequency, a video came out that showed that they had all lied. They were charged with obstruction of justice, but they fought the charges under a state law called the Disclosures by Law Enforcement Officers Act.

Michigan police officers can never be criminally prosecuted for statements they are compelled to make during internal investigations — even if those statements turn out to be lies that amount to perjury or another crime. That’s what the Michigan Supreme Court decided this week, in the case of three Detroit officers charged with obstructing justice… The court ruled that any time an officer is compelled to speak and their job is at stake, those statements can’t be used against them in any criminal proceeding. “Simply stated, the DLEOA bars the use in a subsequent criminal proceeding of all information provided by a law enforcement officer under threat of any employment sanction,” the court majority wrote. “The plain language of the DLEOA protects all statements given by officers under compulsion.”

So we have total prosecutorial immunity and now, in this state at least, total police immunity when they lie during an investigation into their own misconduct, even if doing so constitutes perjury and a denial of due process to their victims. If we had an actual justice system, those officers would be fired, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and banned from ever serving as a law enforcement officer in any capacity forever. But we don’t have a justice system, we have an injustice system.