Dewey commissioners bump police liability insurance to $3 million

Dewey Beach commissioners voted unanimously July 9 to increase the police department liability insurance from $1 million to $3 million.

Town Manager Bill Zolper said accounting clerk Sheena Gossett initiated the idea, which he said he discussed with Police Chief Sam Mackert and police department attorney John Brady.

“Given the current climate in the country today with law enforcement, we’re trying to be as proactive as possible,” Zolper said. 

Zolper said the town is currently paying about $50,000 a year for liability insurance and has a $100,000 deductible. The town budgeted $75,000 this year for liability insurance, he said.

“If we were to go to $3 million this year for liability insurance, the deductible would still be $100,000 but we would have $3 million of insurance,” Zolper said. “We would have to take approximately $25,000 from somewhere else in the budget, and that’s why I’m asking for a budget amendment.”

Zolper proposed using transfer tax funds, currently at $700,000 and budgeted at $735,000; he said Gossett projected income from transfer tax will be at least $125,000 for the fiscal year. 

Mackert said he has been monitoring police department settlements and liabilities nationwide.

“I think it’s prudent for the town to consider upping the amount to protect us so, God forbid, something happens and we don't have to liquidate town assets like another town ran into,” Mackert said.

Brady said the world changed with George Floyd’s death and changed in Delaware before that.

“There have been cases in Dewey Beach where we have had to pay $25,000 for improper arrest, $50,000, and those were below our deductible, so we had to come up with the money,” Brady said. “Most recently in Delaware, the town of Cheswold had a judgment on an employment case with a police officer and it bankrupted the town.”

Brady said $1 million in coverage is inadequate; judgments for police brutality cases in the City of Wilmington have been $2 million to $3 million a year.

“And we have one that’s out there,” Brady said. “I have $2 million [insurance] in case somebody falls in my driveway.”

In Sussex courts, Brady said, only two judgments have been over $1 million. 

“But they're [plaintiffs are] not filing in Sussex,” Brady said. “They’re filing in U.S. district court. They're bringing in out-of-state attorneys, and the juries in New Castle County are giving more money in claims than I ever thought I’d see in my lifetime.”