Is the state trying to protect itself from legal liabilities associated with behavior of the police? Or is there some other motivation for this ruling that the police are private agencies? The criminal 'justice system' has for a long time deemed the police to be above the law, or at least more favored by the law than private citizens. This might be a fallout from the #OWS activism.
I just wonder if the judges are afraid that people brutalized by the police, or the families of people killed by police will fare much better in the courts with jury trials--awarding them large sums as damages. Maybe the judges see this coming, and they are circling the wagons by letting the state off the hook for damages caused by the police. I'd like to hope that the judges can be held accountable for their crimes, but that isn't on the horizon yet. I consider the judges the worst of the elite.
I can just see the Federal government stepping in and taking on the burden of damages resulting from police brutality.
I see this as a step in the right direction. If the cops can lose their asse(t)s in a lawsuit for brutalizing people, then they might behave better. I have noticed that there has been an exponential rise in police caused civilian deaths from their Israeli police training. Their model is the way Israelis treat Palestinians. I just hope all this insanity is starting to unravel, and we can see the end of it sooner rather than later.
Hatha