By Greg Miller – Investigative Reporter
In Illinois a police officer is a public figure for the purpose of libel. The Illinois Supreme Court has decided that even the lowest ranking patrolman holds the interest of public trust at hand. As a result, if a public figure wishes to sue a person for libel they would need to prove “actual malice”. Actual malice is defined as “reckless disregard for the truth” and must be supported evidence indicating such action has actually occurred. Under The New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) simple falsehoods involving a public official would not rise to the level of actual malice thus falls short of reckless disregard for the truth.
It is the policy of Citizen’s Investigator.com to pursue factual information that supports the stories it publishes. Whenever a story is published it is supported by factual information such as physical evidence, eye witness statements, medical records and governmental documents.
In Illinois a police officer is a public figure for the purpose of libel. The Illinois Supreme Court has decided that even the lowest ranking patrolman holds the interest of public trust at hand. As a result, if a public figure wishes to sue a person for libel they would need to prove “actual malice”. Actual malice is defined as “reckless disregard for the truth” and must be supported evidence indicating such action has actually occurred. Under The New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) simple falsehoods involving a public official would not rise to the level of actual malice thus falls short of reckless disregard for the truth.
It is the policy of Citizen’s Investigator.com to pursue factual information that supports the stories it publishes. Whenever a story is published it is supported by factual information such as physical evidence, eye witness statements, medical records and governmental documents.
In a case wear a police officer is accused of domestic violence, it is determined that a criminal offense involving a family member by a police officer is a matter of public interest since the police officer involved holds a governmental position of trust and power and has used his position to abused other people.
Regardless of whether Police are public figures, they've learned to get around this by not claiming libel or slander, but rather by claiming harassment. This is actually the situation I'm in now. It seems pretty tricky to get out of that, but I'm trying to argue that "if Miley Cyrus had chosen to file a harassment report after Entertainment Tonight talked about her performance at the MTV music awards, we wouldn't even be in court right now".
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