Police unions stand in way of reform
June 8, 2020
Police unions are an obstacle to police reform. Our
state legislature can easily remove that obstacle. From
The Washington Post, June 3, 2020:
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The purpose of policing is to promote public safety
and uphold the rule of law so that individuals and communities can
thrive. The purpose of police unions, however, is to win members better
salaries and benefits and to protect their job security — specifically
by pushing for safeguards against investigation, discipline and
dismissal. These protections can make it difficult for police chiefs to
manage their forces effectively and can allow a few bad officers to act
with impunity, poisoning an entire organizational culture in the
process. |
|
From
The Washington Post, June 7, 2020:
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“There are so many terms and conditions in the collective bargaining
agreements that insulate police from accountability and transparency,”
said Jody Armour, a law professor at the University of Southern
California. “Can we know who the bad police are? Are there public
records? A lot of times, that is squelched in collective bargaining.” |
|
From the
New York Times, June 8, 2020:
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Over the past five years, as demands
for reform have mounted in the aftermath of police violence in
cities like Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore and now Minneapolis, police
unions have emerged as one of the most significant roadblocks to
change. The greater the political pressure for reform, the more
defiant the unions often are in resisting it — with few city
officials, including liberal leaders, able to overcome their
opposition. They aggressively
protect the rights of members accused of misconduct, often in
arbitration hearings that they have battled to keep behind
closed doors. And they have also been remarkably effective at
fending off broader change, using their political clout and
influence to derail efforts to increase accountability. |
|
From the
Business Insider, November 7, 2020:
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A report from the US
Conference of Mayors this August said that police unions'
political power has led to collective bargaining agreements that
curtail independent investigations into alleged police abuse,
purge or otherwise obscure disciplinary records, and resist
attempts to better train officers in de-escalation tactics.
Mayors are telling us flatly: We'd like to help, but the unions
have contracts. |
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There is no law at the national level that requires
collective bargaining for police or any other government employees. In
Michigan, collective bargaining was forced on local governments by the
Public Employment Relations Act,
Public Act 379
of 1965. It was made worse in 1969 by
Public Act 312, which provides for binding arbitration for public
safety workers when no collective bargaining agreement is reached.
Our legislature can put local governments back in
control of their police departments simply by repealing the Public
Employment Relations Act.
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