Public Unions Don't Serve the Public

Police Reform

I am generally pro law enforcement, but I can understand some parts of the current trend to demonize the police. For the most part, the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements portray all police actions in unfavorable light. The liberal press is dedicated to upping their TV ratings and selling papers, and much less dedicated to unbiased reporting. Thus, when the police stop black gangbangers from killing each other, it automatically becomes a racially motivated police brutality. When the press shows grade school pictures instead of more recent mug shots, everything gets blown out of proportion. Most black teenagers are not gangbangers. They are students who are trying to make a future for themselves. Most police officers take their oath seriously and enforce the law without racial bias. All that being said, police across the nation could use a little more polish on their image.

In many of our larger cities, officers are not required to live in the neighborhoods they police. They are frequently viewed as occupying forces. Heavy weapons and assault vehicles don’t help their image. I spent a lot of time in the 1960s in Okinawa. We were the remnants of the occupation forces from WWII. We ruled their island with uniforms and guns; then retreated to the safety of our bases every night. They hated us; even those who depended on our occupation for their economic wellbeing. The same is true of police who are not part of the culture they police. You can’t understand the culture of inner-city slums when you live in the affluent suburbs. In these cases, the police have nothing in common with the residents. It is a set up for hate on both sides.

The biggest obstacles to police reform are the police unions. The unions don’t care about quality law enforcement any more than the teacher’s union cares about the quality of education. Public employee unions care about their members, not about the quality of the service they provide. The sanitation workers union can live with garbage in the streets, but it can’t live with unhappy members who pay union dues. It is revealing to read the mission statement of the Fraternal Order of Police. With over 355,000 members, it is the largest of America’s law enforcement unions. Their mission statement includes the improvement of officer’s working conditions, safety, and welfare. They are a powerful political force and lobby Congress for their members. Their mission, however, is silent about the quality of law enforcement. If you read closely, you will find an underlying sense of, “us versus them”. The union has lobbied against body cameras. The union has blocked attempts to require officers to live within the community they police. The union has lobbied against all efforts to reform big city departments. The union has lobbied against all efforts to improve the quality law enforcement.

The last political official to successfully challenge public employee unions was Ronald Reagan. He took on the association of flight controllers and won. He won because he didn’t blink. The controllers ignored the portion of their contract that said they would not go on strike. When they walked out in mass, President Regan fired them all. He was willing to shut down all air traffic rather than allow the unions to dictate to the country. Governor Walker of Wisconsin tried to take on public union in 2011 but was undercut by political opposition. No one since has even had the fortitude to try. Maybe it is time.

The “Defund the Police” movement could be turned into a positive movement of reform. It may be our nation’s opportunity to counter the damage being done by public employee unions. Sane minded citizens don’t want to defund the police. They want the police to be part of the solution to inner-city society. As long as the union values their member’s dues over protection of communities against lawlessness, they will remain part of the problem.

Frank Watson is a retired Air Force Colonel and long-time resident of Eastern Washington. He has been a free-lance columnist for over 20 years.