“The killing of George Floyd at a police officer’s hands as other officers watched was appalling,” said Chris Braunlich, president of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. He noted Mr. Floyd is dead is because the disciplinary procedures contained in the Minneapolis collective bargaining agreement negotiated by the police union protected a bad cop and allowed him on the street.”
Braunlich also noted that Virginia will permit collective bargaining with law enforcement units starting in May of 2021: “Police union contracts have been problems in nearly every state and city where they exist; it is a problem Virginia should stop before it begins.”
Good police officers shouldn’t pay the price for bad cops. But overwhelming evidence shows that collective bargaining agreements create obstacles to holding bad cops accountable, and there is a growing national consensus among conservatives and liberals to eliminate these mechanisms.
The General Assembly has an opportunity in its special session to limit the scope of public safety officer collective bargaining to compensation and benefits. It should do so and stop the problem before it begins in Virginia.
Read this informative study on policing reforms: