Reining in police unions’ power in America

“THE UNION forever defending our rights,” rhapsodises Billy Bragg, a British singer and activist, in his song “There is Power in a Union”. And that, indeed, is what unions do: they advance the interests of their members. That means pushing for better pay, benefits and working conditions. Unions representing police officers are no different: their efforts keep police pensions and salaries generous, and provide their members with broad protections against disciplining and oversight, to keep them in work. That has long frustrated many criminal-justice reformers—but, buoyed by calls for change in the wake of George Floyd’s death, some governments have begun to rethink those protections.

Law enforcement is among the most heavily unionised sectors in America, and police unions occupy a unique position. They tend to be conservative, unlike much of the labour movement. The International Union of Police Associations, for instance, has endorsed Donald Trump, even though it is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, a staunchly Democratic union federation.

Politically, police unions are shielded on both sides. The right dislikes confronting the police—in Wisconsin Scott Walker, a former Republican governor, specifically exempted police unions from a measure passed in 2011 that limited public unions’ collective bargaining rights—whereas the...