Should Police Unions Be Reformed?

What’s the story?

• While Congress’s focus has shifted from the police reform debate for the time being and some lawmakers are advocating for punting the issue until next year, the role of police unions in protecting law enforcement officers from punishment for misbehavior will be a significant aspect of future negotiations on the issue along with other issues like qualified immunity.
• About half of America’s 800,000 police officers belong to a police union. Like all labor unions, police unions exist to protect the interests of all of their members to the greatest extent possible. Stronger protections for officers from termination are often negotiated by police unions in their collectively bargained contracts with local governments, which can protect bad actors and allow them to return to duty with minimal punishment. 
• For example, Derek Chauvin, the ex-Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck until he died, had 18 complaints filed against him but remained on the force and faced only minor discipline until he was terminated for his role in Floyd’s death. 
• The terms of police union contracts can also have other operational impacts on police departments. The city of Camden, New Jersey, in 2012 was dealing with high levels of crime and a problematic police force which had nearly 30% of its union officers taking sick or family leave on a daily basis. 
• Camden ultimately decided to eliminate its city police department and fire its union officers and establish a new, nonunion police force with the county that former city cops could reapply for under less generous contracts. Employment costs per officer dropped from $182,168 to $99,605 annually, and those savings allowed the size of the police force to grow from 250 to 400, putting more cops on the beat after training reforms. Violent crime rates in Camden decreased following the changes.
• Some have suggested curtailing police unions’ ability to collectively bargain as a way of encouraging police reform. The editorial board of the Boston Globe called for limiting the ability of police unions to bargain over disciplinary matters:

“It’s one thing for police unions to bargain over salaries. But in many states, public-sector labor law also allows police unions to bargain discipline. That’s a power they have used with gusto: Police contracts routinely contain provisions that restrict how and when an officer can be questioned after a complaint is filed, call for the destruction of prior disciplinary records, ban civilian oversight, and require arbitration in cases of disciplinary action.”

— Eric Revell

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