[Jeff Higgins]

I agree whole heartedly with the principle that police officers (and public servants in general) should, at times, be held individually liable for their actions while performing their public duties. While that could very quickly get out of hand, and I understand the need to shield them at least somewhat, there are cases (like this one) where there is a clear need to do so.

It can be argued very convincingly in this case that officer Erickson chose to ignore law in which, in his position, he must have been very well trained. He apparently chose to break that law to push his personal firearms agenda. If this does in fact go higher than Erickson, i.e. it is some departmental (or higher) level policy, then whoever penned it should be prosecuted. Fining the department for the illegal actions of its employees does no good whatsoever. That's been shown time and time again accross the country. Maybe jailing the scofflaws within those departments would send a message they would finally listen to.