The road to police reform is paved with bargaining

As the country's reactions to George Floyd's murder evolve from pure horror to specific calls for change, a central theme of the dialogue is the role police unions have had in advocating measures that reduce transparency, block reform efforts, defend officers accused of serious misconduct, and, in general, promote an aggressive law enforcement culture. There have been and will be state and federal legislative solutions to those historical problems. But the path to police reform also will inevitably involve bargainingor at least meeting and conferringwith police unions.

Will the process inject delay in police reform? Perhaps. But the ultimate policy decisions controlled by elected officials, except in jurisdictions with interest arbitration (in which an unelected arbitrator decides impasses over some issues). If elected officials fail to achieve reform through collective bargaining, voters know where to find them. Recognizing that bargaining will be a critical part of reform efforts, this article briefly reviews public-sector bargaining obligations in the context of some of the reforms we're likely to see.

A primer on California police unions