RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
| Subject: Unions Are Root Cause of Policing Problems Fri Jul 22, 2016 10:43 pm | |
| Even before the chilling murders of police officers in Dallas, Baton Rouge, and Kansas City, most conservatives had been rallying around the “boys in blue,” defending law enforcement against allegations it is racially biased and abusive and fearing a new “war on cops.” It’s hard not to feel sympathy for the cause of “law and order,” as some anti-police activists spark riots and as the nation replays some of the worst moments from the 1960s.
Nevertheless, as someone who has reported extensively on police use-of-force issues throughout California, I believe the political right is acting out of emotion, rather than reason. It’s missing key points — and great political opportunities — in its rush to ridicule the grab-bag of malcontents, race-baiters, and socialists who have dominated the “police reform” discussion in recent months.
Perhaps it’s more obvious in California than elsewhere, but police agencies are desperately in need of reform. They are controlled by unions, whose priorities have little to do with public safety and everything to do with looting the treasury and protecting their “own” from meaningful oversight and accountability. Conservatives rightly are outraged at the banana-republic-style proceedings that cleared Hillary Clinton from her misdeeds. Yet somehow they can’t understand that an “official” internal-affairs clearance, in which police investigate themselves and find that no one did anything wrong, can at times give off the same stench.
On a broader level, these police unions flood the political process with donations — not just in state races, but in cities and counties. They tend to be the main political force in local governments, which grossly distorts the kind of policymaking and public spending that goes on there.
http://spectator.org/unions-are-root-cause-of-policing-problems/ |
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