VIRGINIA (WAVY) — According to a new study, Virginia is spending over $283,000 a year due to police misconduct.
High Rise Financial, a pre-settlement legal funding company, conducted the research. The firm looked at the number of police misconduct cases processed between Oct. 2009 and July 2023 to uncover how much each state has spent on litigation settlements.
Since 2009, the Commonwealth has spent over $3.3 million in police settlements. The study shows the U.S. has seen more than $2.3 billion spent on litigation settlements caused by police misconduct, due to violations like an excessive use of force, discrimination and bias, unlawful arrests and detentions, and abuse of power.
The following 10 states paid the most in police misconduct settlements:
- New York, $1,094,427,000
- California, $332,455,000
- Illinois, $330,105,000
- Maryland, $81,279,000
- Pennsylvania, $59,192,000
- Colorado, $51,630,000
- Massachusetts, $39,249,997
- Minnesota, $37,087,900
- Ohio, $33,700,000
- District of Columbia, $32,100,000
A spokesperson from High Rise Financial said, “Some states are paying huge amounts due to mistakes made by their own police force. While this expenditure can be extremely high, it’s important that there are financial repercussions for police misconduct in order to ensure accountability and victim compensation.”
