Dear Friend,
We wanted to call your attention to a story in today's Wall Street Journal outlining the dangers of police accountability provisions in Collective Bargaining Agreements:
At 10 p.m on May 14, 2004, during an arts festival in northeast Minneapolis, a 24-year-old named Jackson Mahaffy was crossing the street when he bumped into a dark, slow-moving SUV with two off-duty police sergeants inside.
Robert Kroll and the second sergeant hopped out and began hitting Mr. Mahaffy, according to interviews and court documents. Not realizing the two men in civilian clothes were police officers, Mr. Mahaffy's sister and at least three others came to his defense. The officers attacked them too; Mr. Kroll kicked one seated man in the face, breaking a tooth, witnesses said.
Mr. Mahaffy, by then bruised and bloodied, was arrested and spent three nights in jail. Prosecutors eventually dropped the charges, which included assaulting a police officer. A civilian police review board dismissed Mr. Kroll's story that he had been attacked by anarchists as having "low overall credibility." Mr. Kroll and the other officer paid the victims $17,000 to settle a civil lawsuit accusing them of excessive use of force, among other things, according to Mr. Mahaffy.
That incident, and nine prior complaints of excessive force, didn't derail Mr. Kroll's career. Over the next decade, he instead rose to what may be the most powerful law-enforcement position in the city: president of the Police Officers' Federation of Minneapolis.
Like police union leaders around the country, Mr. Kroll has accumulated power and protection, both for himself and for the city's roughly 850 police officers. Union contracts for police provide officers strong barriers to being investigated, disciplined or fired. (continue the story here).
Because Governor Douglas L. Wilder signed a law banning Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) in 1993, Virginia has largely avoided such issues.
But starting next May, localities and public employee unions will be able to collectively bargain over salary, benefits and work rules - including provisions for accountability. A further discussion of this issue is here.
Much has been made of the need for policing reform. There is still time to address these dangerous scenarios before collective bargaining kicks in. Once CBAs become legal, entrenched interests will make reform nearly impossible.
The General Assembly must demonstrate its seriousness by taking action in the special summer session to limit the scope of Collective Bargaining Agreements to compensation and benefits.
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