New Hampshire police chief apologizes for job post listing qualified immunity as benefit

A New Hampshire police chief on Wednesday issued a public apology after his police department wrote a recruitment post that touted “qualified immunity” as a job benefit.

“The department offers many opportunities to advance and additional unique benefits including qualified immunity,” the Facebook post read.

A police department in New Hampshire is hiring! And it’s delighted to offer such “unique benefits” as “qualified immunity.” pic.twitter.com/4jilkjnMuB

— Isaac Scher (@isaacscher) August 3, 2021

Manchester police Chief Allen Aldenberg apologized in a subsequent Facebook post after the department began receiving backlash. He said he was to blame for the comment about qualified immunity, a type of legal protection for government officials giving them immunity from most civil suits.

“Earlier today Manchester Police published a recruitment post that referenced qualified immunity. This post was not the place for the mention of qualified immunity and was not appropriate,” he wrote.

Aldenberg noted that the post has since been deleted.

He added, “As Chief of Police I take full responsibility for this post and the inappropriate mention of qualified immunity.”

Qualified immunity has become a central issue in a number of police reform fights following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police office in May 2020.