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Contracts and Legislation
Police Contract
Negotiations
Unlike other unions that work to guarantee equity and fair wages, police unions use the collective bargaining process to shield violent police officers from accountability and create barriers to reform and policy change.
Common contract provisions include those that:
- Take disciplinary matters out of police chiefs’ and civilian oversight bodies’ hands.
- Prevent officers from being interrogated immediately after being involved in an incident.
- Give officers accused of misconduct access to all investigative materials.
- Require officers who kill or seriously injure people to continue to be paid while under investigation or on suspension.
- Require taxpayers to pay costs related to police misconduct including legal fees and the costs of settlements with victims of police violence and their families.
- Allow police to erase or remove disciplinary records from their own files.
A recent University of Chicago study found that between 1996 and 2015, newly unionized law enforcement agencies saw a 27% increase in misconduct complaints as a result of officer protections in union contracts.
Law Enforcement Officers’
Bills of Rights
Twenty states have enshrined the same unfair protections for cops into their state laws. Like local contracts, state Law Enforcement Officer’s Bills of Rights shield violent police officers from investigation and prosecution and provide them with rights of due process far beyond those afforded to other government employees and community members.