Jefferson Institute Poll:
Broad Support Shown for Police Union Bargaining Reforms
Black support for reform as high as 71 percent
As the Virginia General Assembly works towards criminal justice and policing reform, the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy today released a poll demonstrating broad support for reforming police union bargaining agreements as a way of ensuring accountability for police misconduct. The poll may be found by
clicking here.
"The poll we're releasing today shows support across the board for key reforms in police union bargaining agreements," said Chris Braunlich, president of the Thomas Jefferson Institute. "Every single reform garners a majority of voters: Republican, Democrat and Independent -- in some cases as high as 75 percent support."
Because of the issue's importance to Virginia's African American communities, the poll oversamples Virginia's Black population, where support for different reforms ranged from 58.8 percent to 70.9 percent.
"These are reforms that should unite every political persuasion in the General Assembly," Braunlich noted. "Members of the General Assembly should act to pass them by limiting the scope of forthcoming police union bargaining agreements to compensation and benefits."
The poll surveyed Virginians on five key provisions often found in police union contracts in other states. These provisions are used to avoid accountability and often to return police guilty of police misconduct to the streets. The issue is of critical importance because local governments and police unions will be able to engage in collective bargaining starting in May, and these provisions will likely find their way into newly negotiated agreements.
A paper detailing the problem of accountability in police union contracts may be found by clicking here.
The five provisions are -
- 71.4% of Virginia voters oppose police union contract provisions automatically erasing information on past misconduct (68% of Black voters oppose these).
- 64.3% oppose provisions restricting how, when, or where a police officer under investigation may be questioned (61% of Black voters).
- 57.8% oppose provisions limiting disciplinary punishment for police officers guilty of misconduct (58.8% of Black voters).
- 59.2% oppose providing police officers under investigation access to information civilians do not receive before being interrogated (58.8% of Black Virginians).
- 68.8% oppose provisions allowing police officers accused of misconduct to use binding arbitration to return to the streets even when their Chief of Police objects (70.9% of Black voters).
The poll also showed that Virginians were unaware of the new law, passed in the spring, allowing government unions to collectively bargain at the local level. More than 58 percent of Virginians were unaware of the law, which will likely have an impact on local government services and costs.
"The continued presence of police officers like Derek Chauvin is not only a danger to many Black citizens but an insult to the more than 680,000 law enforcement officers who are guardians of our safety and put their lives on the line," Braunlich said. "They are there only because of the police union bargaining agreements permitting the manipulation of discipline and justice."
"The Virginia General Assembly should stop the problem before it comes to Virginia by limiting police union bargaining agreements," Braunlich concluded.
Results for the poll are based on automated telephone interviews conducted among a statewide sample of 1,051 likely voters, with a +/-3.02% margin of error. The surveys were conducted August 13-16, 2020. The African American population was over-sampled in order to get a statistically valid result for that demographic, achieving a +/- 4.3% margin of error.
Christian N. Braunlich
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