# Can police officers invoke Stand Your Ground laws? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 16, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-police-officers-invoke-stand-your-ground-laws/671372 "2013-10-16T03:27:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-police-officers-invoke-stand-your-ground-laws/671372/21 "2013-10-18T13:24:39Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > What exactly do you mean by “invoke Stand Your Ground laws”? I think there’s confusion because “Stand Your Ground” seems to get applied to different laws. In one sense it means having no duty to retreat if you’re in a place where you’re allowed to be, but it also seems to be used to refer to laws that allow people to have separate hearings on whether a prosecution or lawsuit should even be allowed to continue. That’s called SYG immunity. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-police-officers-invoke-stand-your-ground-laws/671372/22 "2013-10-18T15:04:05Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > What you seem to be saying is that SYG laws cannot be invoked by LEO since they are already held to a higher standard than ordinary citizens. Do I understand you correctly? Bright called it, “Qualified Immunity”. When a police officer allegedly violates your constitutional rights and you sue, that is the legal hurdle you must overcome, thier QI. They do not assert SYG in such a charge, as killing someone, they argue it was permitted by the 4th AM, as I said, cf. Tennessee v. Garner. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-police-officers-invoke-stand-your-ground-laws/671372/23 "2013-10-21T22:41:39Z")
I always assumed that, on paper at least (an in most jurisdictions), a police officer has no more, or no less, rights than any other citizen, when it comes to deadly force. And that they could only use deadly force (or any other kind) in a situation where any regular citizen could claim self defense. The fact is this quite clearly not the case in practice, and police get away with using force (lethal or otherwise) in situations that would cause a regular citizen to face serious charges. But I thought that is more to with the way the legal/policing system is set up, not the letter of the law. Am I wrong? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-police-officers-invoke-stand-your-ground-laws/671372/24 "2013-10-21T22:45:22Z")
Even in non-SYG states, police officers have no duty to retreat. In fact, it’s generally their job NOT to retreat but to go towards the violence. Is there really a state where I can rob a bank and make the cops outside all run away by threatening them??? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-police-officers-invoke-stand-your-ground-laws/671372.md?page=1)