“Over the last 40 years, cities have bargained away the power to discipline police officers, often in closed negotiation meetings with local unions.” Contracts frequently call for discipline records to be erased at short intervals, allow officers accused of misconduct to see the opposing evidence before having to commit to a story, and require dismissal of citizen complaints not filed within a very short window, such as 30 days, or with signed affidavit. Those are among things Reuters found in its investigation, which doesn’t even get into the effect of “police bill of rights laws” enacting some of the same measures legislatively.
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Congress could invoke its civil rights power under the Fourteenth Amendment to void police contract provisions and local laws that cover up and protect police misconduct. But I suspect the new Administration will not be interested in taking on police unions.
For good reason we do not allow unionization in our Armed forces. Police forces should be looked at in a similar light.