Public Benefit Private Burden

In the course of their duties, law enforcement officers sometimes damage property belonging to innocent individuals. The damage could be as minor as a fence broken during a foot chase or as extensive as the destruction of a home where a suspect has barricaded himself. In either case, after the damage is done, the question becomes who pays the bill: the unlucky property owner or the government?

This is the first nationwide study to quantify how often property owners seek compensation from local governments for damage caused by law enforcement—and how often governments honor those requests. Our results show local governments frequently refuse to compensate property owners, effectively turning public benefits into private burdens—even though they could easily afford to make worthy owners whole.

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