8, June,2020 Powerful
police Unions resist change
Half a decade after a
series of high profile murders of African-Americans and world-wide protests,
many police unions are resisting change and rushing to defend rogue cops.
Video footage often
captures the last few moments of the lives of many African Americas crushed by
the iron boots of repression and outright barbarity of rogue cops.
Police unions across
the country have mounted strong opposition to reforms enabled by politicians
whose judgment have often been swayed by donations from police unions whose
membership is at record levels. Few police guilty of brutality or worse are
ever held accountable. The few who are fired are often reinstated when public
pressure wanes.
Disputes are often
settled by binding arbitration behind closed doors allowing unions to flex
their legal muscles intimidating local prosecutors. They have been remarkably
successfully brushing off demands for broader change. Kim Gardner a top
prosecutor in St. Louis attempted to create a separate unit in her office but
her efforts were roundly defeated by the local powerful union who even
threatened to remove her by force.
It is therefore not
surprising politicians are reluctant to challenge police unions fearful they be
perceived soft on crime and often fear for their own safety.
Steve Fletcher, a
Minneapolis city councilman and frequent Police Department critic experienced
such dire threats. The police responded to his efforts to divert money to a
newly created unit to investigate police violence by failing to respond to 911
calls by his constituents.
Even Federal
intervention mandated by a federal consent-decree is often ignored by a “wait
and see” approach.
There is little hope
that the “divider-in-chief aided, abetted by the morally bankrupt Republican
Party and US Attorney General will heal a grieving nation.
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