User:John Cummings/Articles/Police unions in the United States

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Police unions in the United States represent around 60% of officers and hold a large amount of political power at the city, state and national levels. Police unions use collective bargaining agreements and their political influence to increase wages for officers and to protect them from prosecution. Unions officers in unions earn almost 40% more than their non-unionized colleagues. Police enable and conceal abuses by police officers by insulating them from accountability and prosecution leading to higher rates of police violence, including sexual violence, especially towards African Americans and other minority groups. They have consistently worked to prevent police reform and have played significant roles in high profile cases of people killed by police. Police unions use a collection of strategies known as 'blue fragility' to avoid challenges to police's legitimacy and 'moral authority'; the idea that police alone can ensure public safety and have an almost exclusive license use violence.

History

Founding

Police unions emerged later than many other public-service unions. Before the 1910s unions in the US were organised by private sector employees, when teachers and sanitation workers began to unionize police followed them. The history of police labor organization in the U.S., began in June 1919 with Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor. Within four months a strike by the freshly chartered Boston Police Department resulted in four days of public disorder, nine deaths, and widespread property damage. Woodrow Wilson declared that the strike was a "crime against civilization", and Herbert Hoover telegrammed Gompers, "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time." For decades afterward, police and other public employees were prevented from organizing. Only in the 1960s did most state laws change to allow public-sector employees the right to collective bargaining.

In June 1919 the American Federation of Labor began chartering local police organizations as affiliates. The first was the police force of Knoxville, Tennessee, followed by cities such as Cincinnati, Washington DC, Los Angeles, St. Paul, Fort Worth, and Boston.. By September it had granted charters to police unions in 37 cities, over the protests of city officials reluctant to allow unionized public employees, and the protests of existing union members resistant to admitting police to their ranks. By the 1950s police unions were common, police unions won the right to collective bargaining in the 1960s.

The Boston force had informally organized since 1906 as the "Boston Social Club". They applied for an AFL charter, which was newly granted on August 15. The city and state, with shared oversight, both forbade this, and rejected a compromise. On September 9, some 72% of the police force refused to work. The city descended into four days and nights of lawlessness, with widespread property damage and nine killed, eight of them by members of the 5,000 Massachusetts State Guard ordered in by Governor Calvin Coolidge. More than 1000 officers were fired and replaced by the city at the higher salaries the union had struck for. The event had a pronounced chilling effect on police unionization for decades. The Boston Police Patrolman's Association was formed 46 years later, in 1965, following a change in state law. A national police union would not be approved until the International Union of Police Association in 1979.

In 1935, the Wagner Act was passed by president Franklin D. Roosevelt, allowing private sector employees to collectively bargain. It wasn't until later in the 1960s that many US states changed laws to allow public-sector employees the right to collective bargaining. By the 1970s police were unionized in every major US city. The longest continuously operating police union in the country is the Portland Police Association of Portland, Oregon, established in 1942.

Relation to other unions

Historically cities and companies used police to break up labour strikes commonly organized by unions, often using violence including killing protesters including during Haymarket massacre, the Coal strike of 1902, the Lattimer massacre and McCormick Reaper Works protests in Chicago. In many cities police used the ambiguous vagrancy laws referred to as "Tramp Acts," to arrest union organized and unemployed workers. Locked alarm boxes were installed throughout cities and businessmen were given keys to be able call the police immediately once strike action began. In Chicago police were "viciously anti-labor ... On a day-to-day basis it hauled nearly a million workers off to jail between 1975 and 1900 ... for trivial public order offenses".

In the 1950's and 1960's public-sector union's rise in membership and power took place at the same time as the civil rights movement and unions aligned themselves with the it. This separated police who had both been slave patrols in southern states enfoced 'slave codes using brutally and enforced racial segregation and assaulted and killed people protesting the segregation e.g the Orangeburg massacre.

Other labor unions are almost never openly critical of police unions with few exceptions. After Eric Garner's death when national union leaders co-signed an open letter to President Barack Obama urging for police reform, stating Garner was in a “long list of black men and boys who have died under eerily similar circumstances.” During the George Floyd protests some unions some unions, including the Writers Guild of America East, asked the Federation of America Trade Union (AFL.-CIO), the largest labor federation in the US, to expel the International Union of Police Associations (representing a hundred thousand police officers). The Association of Flight Attendants adopted a resolution demanding police unions enact policies that “actively address racism in law enforcement and especially to hold officers accountable for violence against citizens, or be removed from the Labor movement.” The Service Employees International Union, which has two million members called for “holding public security unions accountable to racial justice”.

Police unions bargain for additional protections which other unions do not, this includes protections around questioning, disciplinary records, civilian oversight, investigation of complaints and arbitration. Police are still highly unionized in the United States in the 21st century, in contrast to the declining union membership of other professions in both the public and private sectors. High union membership rates among police and other law enforcement officers significantly raise the average.

The police labor movement is divided into two camps -- the independent police labor organizations and the police labor organizations affiliated with organized labor through the AFL-CIO or CtW. Approximately 80-85 percent of all police labor organizations would be classified as independent and have no affiliation with organized labor. There are no accurate reports on how many of the 800,000 sworn officers are members of a police union. The best estimate would be 75-80 percent; that would rank police officers with firefighters as having the highest unionization rates in the United States.

Exemptions from laws impacting unions

Police unions are often exempted from laws impacting unions. When Scott Walker, the then Republican governor of Wisconsin brought in union busting legislation in 2011 he exempted most police unions from it.

Membership

Police unions in the United States have much higher membership rates than most other unions. Police unions represent around 60% of officers in the around 18,000 police departments nationwide, often membership of police unions is mandatory. Additional pay that officers gain from being in a union dwarf union fees, officers in unions earn almost 40% more than their non-unionized colleagues. Police officers are some of the highest-paid public sector workers in the United States.

Structure

Police unions in the United States include a large number and patchwork variety of organizations. Of those unions which conduct labor negotiations on behalf of its police members, 80% are independent and have no affiliation to any larger organized labor groups. There were a reported 800,000 sworn officers in the United States as of 2017, and an estimated 75-80% of them belong to a union.

Many of the independent unions serve local municipalities. The self-described "largest municipal police union in the world" is the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York that represents 24,000 members of the NYPD. There are five unions serving the NYPD and its force of 35,000, three times the size of the next largest department in Chicago. There are also significant state-wide unions in California, Texas, Florida, Wisconsin, New York, and New Jersey, dominant in all but the largest cities.

There is no single dominant national association. Four associations have significant membership drawn from across the country. The Fraternal Order of Police has a reported 330,000 members, although the FOP encompasses both union lodges and fraternal lodges, and while active as an advocacy group is not itself officially a union. The largest national union per se is the International Union of Police Associations, with about 20,000 members, which is among that 20% of police unions with affiliations to organized labor. The IUPA chartered with the AFL–CIO in 1979. Likewise the International Brotherhood of Police Officers has a national scope, and is a member organization of the National Association of Government Employees, which is itself affiliated with the Service Employees International Union.

Police associations and organized labor

Of the 20 to 25% of police unions with affiliations with organized labor, the largest is the International Union of Police Associations, which chartered with the AFL–CIO in 1979. It has over 15,000 members.

Other union affiliates include the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which is part of National Association of Government Employees (SEIU/CtW).

Amid calls to remove police from the labor movement in 2020, member affiliates of the west coast King County Labor Council brought two motions to reform and / or expel the Seattle Police Officer Guild, the largest police union in the northwest. On June 8th, 2020 the Writers Guild of America, East called on the AFL-CIO to dismiss the IUPA.

Sometimes described as a "union," the National Association of Police Organizations is solely a lobbying organization.

Police Benevolent Associations

Port Authority Police Benevolent Association, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, a typical small-town PBA.

A Police Benevolent Association, or Policemen's Benevolent Association, or Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA), is a frequently used name for law enforcement labor unions in the U.S. Examples include the New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association, the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, and the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association.

Several Police Benevolent Associations have a tradition of distributing courtesy cards to friends and family members of police officers. In 2012, the director of the Police Institute at Rutgers University stated that the practice was at least 40 years old and probably much older. While police departments have repeatedly denied that they support favoritism for cardholders, the cards have come to be called "get out of jail free cards" colloquially based on anecdotal reports that they have helped drivers receive a warning instead of a speeding ticket. Officers speaking anonymously have supported the view that the cards are designed to help certain people avoid minor citations.

The legitimacy of the cards is a subject of debate with critics maintaining that it is a form of police corruption for officers to take them into consideration. A professor of police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice has said of the system that "it sets up different sets of rules". In 2018, the number of PBA cards allotted per officer in New York was lowered from 30 to 20. This was in response to many of them appearing for sale online. The New York Times prohibits its journalists from accepting the cards out of concerns that doing so would prevent them from covering the police objectively.

Impact on police violence

Main article: Police use of deadly force in the United States

Over 1000 people are killed by police in the United States every year, the highest of any developed country, for comparison people in the United States are 60 times more likely to be killed by police than someone in the United Kingdom. African Americans killed at a higher rate than other demographics, black people are three times as likely to be killed by police than white people.. Studies have found that between 23% and 40% of families of police officers experience domestic violence, compared to 10% in the general population.

Killings

There is a direct correlation between rates of police union membership and number of people killed by police. Collective bargaining rights introduced by police unions from the 1950's onward (which are negotiated largely in secret) led to a substantial increase of police killings and other abuses especially towards people from racial minorities. Unions have negotiated labor contracts that stop law enforcement agencies firing officers after egregious acts of misconduct. A University of Oxford study of the 100 largest US cities found that increased protections for officers directly correlated with increased levels of violence and other abuses against citizens by police officers. A study by the University of Chicago found that after deputies gained collective bargaining rights in Florida sheriff’s offices incidents of violent misconduct increased by around 40%. Researchers at the University of Victoria also found a 40% increase of killing when collective bargaining rights we enacted, with the overwhelming majority of people being killed being non white, the authors of the study described unions as "protection of the right to discriminate". A systemic pattern of “serious violations of the U.S. Constitution and federal law,” was found by a Justice Department investigation of Baltimore’s police department. A Minneapolis councilperson described the Minneapolis Police Union as a "protection racket".

'Killology' and 'warrior' training

Many police unions have paid for “killology” training which teaches that if officers do not want to “snuff out a life” they should “consider another line of work.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey banned 'warrior training' for police, in response Minneapolis Police Union has ignored the ban and funded courses valued at $55,000 a year per participant.

Sexual harassment and sexual violence

Sexual misconduct by law enforcement is the second most reported type of police misconduct after excessive force. Reporting of sexual harassment and sexual violence perpetrated by police is under-reported because of direct threats and intimidation as well as purposely misreporting the allegations by other officers, commonly known as 'the blue wall of silence'.

On average, a police officer in the United States is caught in an act of sexual misconduct at least every 5 days. A survey of almost 1,000 youth in New York City found that 2//5ths of young women had been sexually harassed by police officers. An investigation by the Associated Press in 2015 found that around 1,000 police officers in the United States were fired in a six-year period for rape, sodomy and other sexual assault, possession of child pornography; propositioning citizens or having sex whilst on duty.

The largest police union in New York City, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, brought a legal challenge to the Civilian Complaint Review Board seeking to keep sexual assault and sexual abuse allegations against NYPD officers private and under the control of the NYPD. It argues that police sexual misconduct is not an “abuse of authority.” Two women have alleged sexual misconduct by Officer Brett Hankison who killed Breonna Taylor, they both cited fear of retaliation for not reporting the assaults at the time they happened.

Unions role in rehiring fired officers

Unions help officers fired for violent attacks and killing people (including unarmed people) rejoin police departments. In Pittsburgh the cases where terminations were appealed by the police union through arbitration officers were rehired around 70% of the time. An investigation by the The Washington Post found that of the 1,800 officers in the nation's largest departments who had been fired for misconduct from 2007 to 2017 450 officers had been rehired due to protections offered by union contracts.

A 2013 report on police misconduct in Philadelphia found that 90 percent of officers fired for offences including shoplifting and sexual misconduct had been rehired after arbitration by their union, usually with full benefits and back pay. For example Pittsburgh Police officers Paul Abel (who accidentally shot a 20 year old man he was trying to pistol whip whilst drunk) and Eugene Hlavac (who slapped his ex-girlfriend so hard that it dislocated her jaw) were fired by the department and then later rehired through union arbitration.

"It's very hard to maintain discipline in a police department especially when at every turn you have cases that wind up getting overturned, people brought back, and in many cases for some very, very serious allegations,"

— Charles Ramsey Philadelphia Police Commissioner

In 2007 officer Hector Jimenez of the Oakland Police Department killed an unarmed 20 year old man, seven months later he killed another unarmed man by shooting him in the back three times as he ran away, his police union disputed the firing and he was reinstated with back pay.

Role in militarizaton of police forces

Police unions have played an active role in the increasing Militarization of police in the United States, militarization has increased the number of people killed by police, especially black people. On May 18, 2015, President Barack Obama announced limits on the types of military equipment which can be transferred to police departments and the implementation of training programs to assure the appropriate use of other items. In response to Obama's announcement, the United States' largest police union, the Fraternal Order of Police pledged to push back against the new restrictions and accusing the administration of politicizing officers' safety. The executive director of the FOP, James Pasco, stated that his group "... (would) be at (their) most aggressive in asserting the need for officer safety and officer rights in any police changes that are to be effected", and objected to a requirement that police departments obtain permission from city governments to acquire certain equipment, including riot batons, helmets and shields, through federal programs.

Protecting police from prosecution

Police unions protect officers from accountability and prosecution through supporting laws which insulate police and through collective bargaining agreements. Police unions hold veto power over contracts, cities cannot negotiate new union contracts unless the union approve it in a vote meaning the cities must continue with the old contracts, which include concessions made to the unions on oversight and accountability over decades. A 2016 study by Check the Police found that across 81 US cities 89% of contracts imposed at least one major barrier and 78% imposed three or more.

Police unions support laws such as qualified immunity which shield police officers and other government officials from legal actions by victims and their families, even if their civil rights were violated.

Decades of collective bargaining by the police unions has resulted in many police forces in which department chiefs have little control with police unions setting the terms for internal investigations. Police unions provide legal representation to members facing criminal charges and have consistently used their bargaining agreements to create obstacles to accountability through making it more difficult to discipline and prosecute officers. Police unions have control over how police forces can questions to police officers under investigation, which questions can be asked, when an incident can be investigated and for how long. They have exerted less influence in protecting non white police officers. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has stated "We need reform in the area of the police unions to make sure that the chief can actually have disciplinary control over the force,"

The Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank found that many police unions "run counter to the best practices of professional law enforcement standards and are more concerned with sustaining the union than with promoting public safety". University of Nebraska at Omaha emeritus professor of criminal justice Samuel Walker described police unions as creating a “culture of impunity.” An analysis by Campaign Zero found 81 union contracts in major US cities which hindered oversight.

Police union contracts often include protections which insulate officers from consequences, these include restricting and controlling officer interrogation, requiring expunging of disciplinary records, restricting civilian oversight of police, restriction of investigation of complaints and restricting arbitration Many have said that these powers make it impossible to hold police accountable for killings. A study in the Duke Law Journal found that police unions limited police accountability and insulated them from prosecution through setting rules for officer interrogations, disciplinary records, civilian oversight, investigation of complaints and arbitration.

Officer interrogations and questioning

Union contract often have delay mechanisms for investigations which give a significant advantage of accusers. In at least 50 cities investigators have to wait at least 48 hours before they can interview to officer and in at least 34 cities officers have to provided all the evidence against them ahead of questioning. Many contracts allow accused officers to confer with other officers before questioning. In Louisiana prosecutors must wait 14 days to question an officer who killed or seriously injure someone and 30 days for other misconduct. Almost half of contracts reviewed by Reuters in 2017 allowed accused officers see their entire investigative file prior to questioning, the file included witness statements, photos, and videos which made it easier for officers to navigate interrogations,, something that civilians accused of crimes would not receive. Prosecutors investigate officers they regularly work with leading to a conflict of interest.

Disciplinary Records

Unions set rules for expunging disciplinary records usually after three to five years and not recording any disciplinary action that does not result in punishment. At least 40 municipalities allow erasure of disciplinary records maintained by the police accountability organization. In Minneapolis only around 1% of complaints adjudicated since 2012 have resulted in an officer being disciplined meaning most complaints have been erased or were never recorded.

Officers facing misconduct charges are allowed to resign rather than face charges a process is commonly known as gypsy cops. This practice leads to officers with histories of violence and other misconduct being able to move between forces to avoid accountability. Researchers at the University of Oxford and University of Warwick found that misconduct 'spread like a contagion', police officers who moved due to misconduct allegations consistently made their new colleagues more likely to commit abuses. They also highlighted the 'code of silence' in which officers protected each other from prosecution.

For example Timothy Loehmann who killed the 12 year old child Tamir Rice had resigned from his previous job because during weapons training he had "a dangerous loss of composure" with the instructor stating "I do not believe time, nor training, will be able to change these deficiencies".

https://hudsoncountyview.com/jersey-city-poba-joins-5-state-police-unions-calling-for-suit-against-ag-over-police-discipline-order/

Civilian Oversight

Unions have fought civilian oversight of officers. In 2019 the Police Benevolent Association resisted adding civilians to the review board, organizing a five-thousand-member picket line in protest. Union contract often require that video footage from police cameras which record incidents are not released to the public

Investigation of Complaints

Police review boards have consistently chosen not to prosecute officers. From 2007 - 2015, Chicago’s Independent Police Review Authority investigated over four hundred police shootings and deemed the officers justified in all but two incidents. In 2012 Minneapolis replaced its civilian review board to investigate complaints with the Office of Police Conduct Review, after which the public filed over 2,600 misconduct complaints, only twelve resulted in punishment of an officer, the largest penalty was a 40 hour suspension.

Many union contracts require cities to put officers on paid administrative leave and pay for legal fees. Union contracts often have deadlines for when investigations must be concluded or started by. The union contract for Police in Omaha, Nebraska requires that any disciplinary action (except for criminal investigations) must happen within 100 days.

Arbitration

Appeals processes frequently leads to reinstatement, especially if the investigating agency has made procedural errors. Unions often have significant influence over arbitration, over how it happens and who is arbitrating. A study by the University on Pennsylvania's Law Review found more than half of union contracts studied gave officers or unions substantial power in selecting that arbitrator.

Disciplinary decisions are based on past precedent, but because cities do not have control of disciplinary procedures there is no precedent meaning officers are not disciplined. A case can be overturned if an arbitrator finds that the penalty the officer is given is more than previous similar incidents, even if previous incidents had been treated too leniently. Around 46% of the time arbitrators ruled in favour of fired officers leading to them rejoining that police department often with back pay.

Immunity from fines and other civil judgements

Contract provisions provide immunity from some civil judgements, meaning that officers have no financial incentive to conform to the law. Research by New York University found that in 44 jurisdictions between 2006 - 2011 offending officers almost never paid the judgements against them. Police union contracts also require authorities to give officers paid leave, pay legal fees and the cost of settlements when accused of or found guilty of an offence.

Political activity

In addition to collective bargaining on behalf of their members, police unions engage in political advocacy around "law and order," crime legislation and legal protections for individual officers. Efforts by the Department of Justice to regulate policing through consent decree, civilian oversight, and prosecution of police misconduct have been stalled or forbidden by police union contracts. In 2014, the Fraternal Order of Police lobbied unsuccessfully for the continuation of Pentagon's 1033 program, which allowed for excess military equipment to be given to civilian police departments, after it was discontinued by President Obama.

Attacks and threats to politicians

Police unions run personal attacks on politicians and their families and use intimidation tactics. The head of The Sergeants’ Union in New York doxed the daughter of Mayor Bill de Blasio on Twitter by sharing personal information obtained during the the George Floyd protests. The St Louis Police Union has ran social media ads against alderwoman Megan Green who was advocating reform, calling her a “Communist Cop-Hater” and superimposing her head onto Mao Zedong. The head of the St. Louis police union stated that Kim Gardner the Circuit Attorney (chief prosecutor) of St. Louis, Missouri who proposed independent of police misconduct was a “menace to society” and should be removed “by force or by choice”.

Funding candidates

Police unions also generate significant political donations. Between 1994 and 2020, over 55 police unions donated $1 million to different federal election campaigns. In the same time period, over $87 million was spent by police unions on lobbying and elections on the local level. Police unions form political action committees (PACs), donating large amounts to provide funding to attack politicians running on police reform agendas. They also fund political campaigns for district attorneys, state attorneys, state senators and representatives who support punitive law and order policies. One of the several New York City police union spent more than $1 million on state and local elections since 2014. The San Francisco police officers’ association spent $700,000 to try to beat Chesa Boudin campaign for district attorney who was running on a progressive agenda, they spent almost the entire amount raised by the Boudin campaign.

Police unions attack politicians who oppose their power as being "soft on crime" often using racist language and imagery. P.B.A.’s president John Cassese had stated “I’m sick and tired of giving in to minority groups with their whims and their gripes and shouting.” Many state and national police unions endorsed Donald Trump and donated to his campaign. The FOP has a political action committee (PAC) with lobbyists to push legislation benefiting police.

Many politicians have rejected, redistributed or given back donations from police unions, especially elected prosecutors where impartiality is required.

Role in preventing police reform

Police unions have consistently worked to stop and slow down reforms in police departments and have been described as the major roadblock to police reform. A study of 178 police union negotiated contracts by Duke University found that police unions had consistently frustrated police reforms for decades.

Action	Example
Opposed measures to help the public identify officers	In the 1970s police unions opposed requiring officers’ wearing name badges.
Opposed independent investigation of officers	Kim Gardner the Circuit Attorney (chief prosecutor) for the City of St. Louis, Missouri proposed a unit that would independently investigate misconduct police unions pressured lawmakers so that the proposal was never brought to a vote. The union worked to limit the prosecutor’s office ability to investigate police misconduct.
Opposed the use of body cameras
Opposed documenting racial profiling
Opposed tracking excessive-force complaints.
Lobbied to keep disciplinary histories sealed.
Limit the power of civilian-review boards	Newark city’s police union sued the city to shut down it's police civilian review board which was as a model of police oversight. In 2019 the Police Benevolent Association last year resisted adding civilians to the review board, organizing a five-thousand-member picket line in protest. The PBA's president, John Cassese, stating, “I’m sick and tired of giving in to minority groups with their whims and their gripes and shouting.”
Preventing police chiefs from providing meaningful oversight
Discouraging criticism of police	In response to Colin Kaepernick kneeling to protest police violence the Santa Clara police union whose members provide security at 49ers games, would refuse to work if no action was taken against him.Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA) paid to have officer's Facebook accounts 'scrubbed' after they were discovered to have been sharing posts encouraging violence against ethnic minorities and 'congratulating' George Zimmerman for 'cleaning up our community one thug at a time'.
Encouraging officers to slow down reforms put in place.	In Cleveland police unions told officers not to take rules seriously, including reporting and investigating pointing a gun at people  ??which city?? . Jonathan Smith, a former U.S. Justice Department official who was ??? stated “I heard this in lots of departments... Wait it out. Do the minimum you have to do.’”
Opposing funding alternative public services	Minneapolis city councilman Steve Fletcher proposed funding an office of violence prevention by diverting money from police officer recruitment the police delayed responding to 911 calls placed by his constituents. Fletcher stated “It operates a little bit like a protection racket”. ??reference??
Opposing prosecution of officers who kill people and commit other rights violations	Provide free legal representation to officers accused of misconduct Albuquerque Police Union paid $500 to officers who kill people whilst working.
Opposing politicians who support police reform	The San Francisco Police Officers’ Association spent $700,000 to try to beat Chesa Boudin's campaign for district attorney who was running on a progressive reform agenda, which was almost the entire amount raised by the Boudin campaign.
Organising actions to protest officers being disciplined	After ?? killed Eric Garner the ?? organised a 'slow down' ??? A study on the effects of the “work-to-rule”, where officers withdrew 'proactive policing' showed that major crimes fell during the period between 3-6%. The researchers stated that “In their efforts to increase civilian compliance, certain policing tactics may inadvertently contribute to serious criminal activity,” They also found that 'proactive policing' was used disproportionately in communities with larger numbers of people of colour and higher poverty rates, stating “the vicious feedback between proactive policing and major crime can exacerbate political and economic inequality across communities”.
Opposing repeal of qualified immunity
Opposing more transparency of disciplinary records	New York police union is resisting changes to ?? 50-A, which prevents the public from viewing disciplinary records for officers, including when they have killed someone.A union representing the San Bernardino County Sherriff's Department filed a lawsuit which aimed to block a state law which made some records of police misconduct available to the public.https://hudsoncountyview.com/jersey-city-poba-joins-5-state-police-unions-calling-for-suit-against-ag-over-police-discipline-order/ The largest police union in New York City, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, brought a legal challenge to the Civilian Complaint Review Board seeking to keep sexual assault and sexual abuse allegations against NYPD officers private and under the control of the NYPD. It argues that police sexual misconduct is not an “abuse of authority.”
Opposing protests against the police	Minneapolis police union president, Lt. Bob Kroll has called protests against police brutality a “terrorist movement”.
Shifting blame from structural issues to individual officers	in the rare cases where police officers are prosecuted ??few bad apples??

Involvement in high profile cases

Killings by police

• George Floyd: when Derek Chauvin (at least 17 misconduct complaints) killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds Minneapolis police union president, Lt. Bob Kroll (who has at least 29 complaints against him) wrote a letter to union members. In the letter he stated that prosecuting him was "despicable behavior" and called the protesters a “terrorist movement”. The president of the New York State Association of P.B.A.s Michael O’Meara responded to criticism of the police following the killing by demanding “Stop treating us like animals and thugs and start treating us with some respect. . . . We’ve been vilified.”

• Laquan McDonald: A report conducted by the task force investigating the murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by officer Jason Van Dyke found that a “code of silence” about misconduct was “baked into” labor agreements between police unions and the city. At least 25 separate complaints had been filed against Van Dyke by both civilians and fellow officers, he had used protections in police union contracts to avoid prosecution by moving departments.

• Amadou Diallo: The head of the patrol officers’ union, Patrick J. Lynch defended the officers who killed Amadou Diallo in 1999, the union paid for lawyers for the officers.

• Mack Woodfox: Officer Hector Jimenez, of Oakland, California was fired in 2009 for killing Mack Woodfox by shooting him three times in the back. It was the second time in seven months Jimenez had shot and killed an unarmed man. Two years later he successfully appealed with the help of his union and was reinstated with full back pay.
• Michael Brown: when unarmed Michael Brown was shot by Darren Wilson, Jeff Roorda, Executive Director of the St. Louis Police Officers Association appeared on multiple news channels to support the officers . When Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, Kenny Britt, Jared Cook, Chris Givens and Tre Mason, players from the St Louis Rams football team raised their arms as they walked onto the field to support Michael Brown “tasteless, offensive and inflammatory”, and demanded that they be disciplined.
• Eric Garner: after NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo (who was the subject of two civil rights lawsuits for false arrest and abuse) was fired for killing Eric Garner the Police Benevolent Association organised a work slowdown in protest. Patrick Lynch, the longtime president of the Police Benevolent Association stated “We are urging all New York City police officers to proceed with the utmost caution in this new reality, in which they may be deemed ‘reckless’ just for doing their job” He also stated "Our police officers are in distress, not because they have a difficult job, not because they put themselves in danger, but because they realize they are abandoned".
• Darrien Hunt: when Darrien Hunt was killed, shot in the back multiple times by Nicholas Judson and Mathew Schauerhamer the officers were not interviewed until a week after the killing due to police union contracts.
• Walter Scott: when officer Michael Slager killed unarmed Walter Scott by shooting him in the back eight times, John C. Blackmon, the president of Tri-County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 3 in South Carolina stated “Do not allow them to beat down the hardworking men and women of the Lowcountry’s law enforcement.”
• Tamir Rice: When officer Timothy Loehmann shot 12 year old Tamir Rice the CPPA union head Steve Loomis made dozens of appearances on US cable news defending the actions of Loehmann, calling 12 year old Rice 'menacing'. The union has appealed the firing of Loehmann.
• Philando Castile: when a $12 million dollar police training fund was set up in Castile's name by the Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton five police federations responded that the governor was trying to "fuel deeper divisions between people of color and law enforcement" and he was turning "his back on police officers all over again."
• Breonna Taylor: union collective bargaining agreements mean that officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove who killed Breonna Taylor shooting her eight times while she slept after entering the wrong house were neither fired nor charged.
• Rayshard Brookes: when Rayshard Brooks was killed by police by being shot twice in the back the police union organised 170 officers of the Atlanta Police Department to stage a four day blue flu strike to protest the criminal charges brought against the officers involved.

Assaults by police

• Evan Gorski: Staff Inspector Joey Bologna hit Evan Gorski in the back of the head with a metal baton during the George Floyd protests. The Fraternal Order of Police President John McNesby said it "will not stand-by and watch Inspector Bologna get railroaded." and "It’s a slap in the face to every officer in the City of Philadelphia under these condition"

• Martin Gugino:two officers shoved Martin Gugino causing him to fall over, hitting is head and suffer brain damage. The president of the Buffalo police union said the union stood “100 percent” behind the stating the officers “were simply following orders.”
• Christopher Long was shoved to the ground to the ground during a protest ride in 2008, patrol officers’ union, Patrick J. Lynch defended the officer and paid for lawyers for them.

Police union leadership

Diversity

In 15 cities with the highest proportion of non white officers, only one police union leader is black. The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police has no black officers among its leadership, the FOP has an executive board of nine white men and one black man serving as the chaplain. Sonia Pruitt, chairperson of the National Black Police Association has said “It is to the detriment of policing, period, that our community is not represented at police union tables,".

Impact on pubic spending

Police unions collective bargaining an political power have caused a sharp increase in budgets for police, darwfing all other public sector expenditure by state and local government.

Largest police unions in the United States

• Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York (PBA) formed in 1892 in New York City, originally as a fraternal organization. Today it represents about 24,000 of the department's 36,000 officers. Another 11,000 are represented by the Sergeants Benevolent Association.
• The first chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police was formed in 1915 in Pittsburgh. As a national organization, some of its lodges are independent municipal unions, but the FOP is not a labor union nor affiliated with any. It remains open to all levels of law enforcement members, including management.
• The New York City Police Department is the largest in the country. With roughly 35,000 sworn officers, it's three times larger than the next-biggest, Chicago. It supports five separate unions, according to various ranks (patrol officers, sergeants, lieutenants, detectives, and captains):
• Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, which describes itself as the "largest municipal police union in the world" representing 24,000 members "who hold the rank of Police Officer". Its head since 1999 is Patrick Lynch.
• Detectives' Endowment Association, which claims representation of 5,500 active and 12,000 retired New York City Police Detectives.
• Sergeants Benevolent Association
• Lieutenants Benevolent Association
• Captains' Endowment Association, representing the ranks of Captain, Deputy Inspector, Inspector, Deputy Chief, and Surgeon

The other four cities in the U.S. with over 5,000 police officers correspond with the four next-largest independent municipal labor unions by total membership:

• Chicago Lodge #7 of the Fraternal Order of Police
• Los Angeles Police Protective League
• Philadelphia Lodge #5 of the FOP
• Houston Police Officers' Union

External links

• NYC PBA Website
• New Jersey State PBA Website
• Florida PBA Website