Posted: September 9th, 2022

Police Union

Question one
The activists have continuously demanded change over the years as they have cited police unions as a roadblock. A local civil rights activist has faced many critics from claiming that the criminal justice system is racist in his blog. The police unions being a compelling body, have been negotiating salaries and benefits for their officers (Fisk & Richardson, 2017). They have also been fighting for their job protections and defended officers found to be on the wrong. This kind of leadership does not represent the perspectives and values of its employees. According to the local civil rights activist, the department’s blog found that in fifteen largest departments where the majority of police officers were the people of color, there was only one black union leader. The activist also noted that having the majority of white people like the union bosses was an obstacle to police reforms. According to research done in the past years, the white police officers believed that the united states had achieved equal rights for black people, whereas that’s not how the black police officers felt. Few white police officers believe that the protests taking place are genuine, whereas the majority of the black police officers believe so. For example, the black undercover police officer shot by the white officer brought outrage to the minority community, which led to protest calling for greater transparency. Some of the police reforms pushed by the people and have been resisted by police unions include making disciplinary records public. The public also wants the police officers accused of wrongdoing to report what immediately. The police union has been fighting to reduce civilian review boards’ power, and all these reasons portray pure racism against the black community and the minority groups at large.
Question two
I agree with the local civil rights activist that the police union extorts through collective bargaining law. Police unions have been violating these laws by denying the public their human rights. The collective bargaining rights conferral on police officers has led to increased incidents of violence. State labor laws that dictate the terms of police officers’ employment facilitate the collective bargaining process. It also allows public employees to challenge managerial decisions. Generally, collective bargaining refines the law enforcement officers’ terms and conditions for their employment (McIlwee, 2018). Other than just establishing basic parameters, these agreements also govern salaries, overtime pay, and raises. They also dictate how investigations into misconduct by police officers are carried out, the measures of discipline available to officers seeking to evade sanction. Apart from eight states, contract negotiations that happen within the police unions occur behind closed doors where neither the public nor journalists are involved. Most of these agreements state that officers should not be interrogated with the use of force following an incident. They also limit the length of the interrogation, and they also permit officers to include a union representative during investigations. The federal and state courts have to apply the managerial-function standard. That removes the issues of the policy and public interest from collective bargaining. That should happen when considering if the unions have the right to oppose settlement agreements in structural police reform litigation.
Question three
The local civil rights activist claimed that transparency in the police department should not be for sale. That is true because the relationship between police and the public has not been good in recent years. Police brutality and shootings have caused irreparable damages to this relationship. Remember, the cops swore to serve the public, but instead, they are out here, creating gaps between them. Most of the police officers are well-trained professionals, but still, the friction is there. For example, the case is given of the white officer who responds to a disturbance reported in a neighborhood occupied by a minority then shoots to kill the identified black man who turns out to be a police officer in undercover. An internal investigation is done; the white police officer gets cleared. In most cases, police union circles the wagons and hide information when police officers get involved in violent interactions with the public (Morton, 2018). It creates distrust between the police and the public, especially when the speculations and rumors start spreading. It is, therefore, very advisable for police to be transparent.
Some of the ways that can be used to fix the problems in police unions are initiating police reforms instead of fighting the measures meant to rein in police misconduct. Also, the abolishment of police unions, instead of forming organizations that advocate for their interests and that of the public. Some of the policy reforms that best suit the unions are such as changes of the contract by removing provisions that are part of the majority of the union contracts or rather the state laws called Law Enforcement Officers’ Bills of Rights. They give similar protections as contracts to police officers but implemented as state legislation. There are ways of mending the relationship between the police and the public. A community-based approach is one of them, and it involves broken windows policing, procedural justice policing, and community-oriented policing. Different outcomes vary from communities on the benefits of how society views the police and policing. There are also ambiguous reactions to civil engagement, social cohesion, and mutual trust regarding this conflict.

References
Fisk, C. L., & Richardson, L. S. (2017). Police unions. Geo. Wash. L. Rev., 85, 712.
Morton, D. R. (2018). Improving police transparency and accountability in violent encounters with African Americans. Journal of African American Studies, 22(1), 125-138.
McIlwee, T. (2018). Collective bargaining. In European Labour Relations (pp. 14-16). Routledge.

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