Ellison is now prosecuting because people didn't trust Mike Freeman Hennepin County DA. I personally am neutral on this move and as I while I wasn't fully sold on Freeman he is the only prosecutor in MN to successfully convict an LEO in the death of a civilian. For the record I've never been a supporter of Ellison and didn't vote for him but so far in this case he's made the right moves. The upgraded charges are backed by evidence. It's always taken a long time to release the body cam tapes and I don't think this is a matter of Ellison withholding release for political reasons.
Not Public-Spirited Government-employee unions—including those for police—put the power and interests of their workers above the public interest: https://www.city-journal.org/government-employee-unions-public-interest excerpt: Liberal sympathy for organized labor doesn’t extend to police unions because cops are seen as the “bad proletariat.” Liberals try to paint the problems of police unions as unique to law enforcement, rather than endemic to unionized government. In the wake of the Floyd killing, some have called for the abolition of police forces—and, in Minneapolis, the city council has announced that it will “begin the process” of disbanding the city’s police department. On the other side, conservative aversion to government unions often stops short of police unions because conservatives worry that criticism of cop unions will be mistaken for criticism of the police. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, for example, excluded police unions from Act 10, which dramatically weakened public-sector unions in his state. The deeper problem is that unionization and collective bargaining have made it almost impossible to bring about meaningful reform of state and local government, policing included. The consequences are huge, because the inability to reform government means that performance suffers and public trust in key institutions declines. Collective bargaining is not fundamentally about products or services—whether public safety, education, automobiles, or anything else—but about the power and interests of workers and management. Public-sector unions are in the business of winning better salaries and benefits, protecting job security, and advancing their members’ occupational interests. Organizational incentives, and state law, ensure that union leaders prioritize these amenities. Police and public schools are the institutions of government with which Americans most frequently engage. Police protect our most vulnerable citizens and allow communities to thrive. Schools offer opportunities for social mobility. There are thousands of heroic and devoted police officers and school teachers. But unionization and collective bargaining have enmeshed these two crucial government functions in red tape that too often protects the inept and abusive. Collective bargaining in the public-safety and educational sectors strips government executives of the tools they need to supervise and manage their workforces effectively. Police chiefs and school principals struggle to weed out poor performers. A few bad actors can undermine an entire organizational culture. *** Police officers accused of misconduct are, consequently, rarely disciplined or punished insofar as investigations are long, highly regulated, and allow for frequent appeals. One study found that the worst 5 percent of officers in the Chicago Police Department accounted for a third of all civilian complaints. But few were ever disciplined or removed. Jason Van Dyke, the officer who killed an unarmed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014, was among the officers with the most civilian complaints. But he remained on active duty. Teachers also enjoy extensive job protections that make them nearly impossible to fire. State laws and union contracts create a labyrinth of paperwork and processes. In most school districts, over 95 percent of teachers receive satisfactory ratings and get tenure (which means more job protections) after three years on the job. Many principals don’t even bother trying to dismiss bad teachers because of the costs involved. One study found that dismissing a veteran teacher for poor performance takes a minimum of two years; in Los Angeles and San Francisco, it takes at least five years. Even teachers accused of sexual misconduct rarely lose their jobs. Under many state laws or union contracts, an independent investigator—usually an independent law firm or the school superintendent—first vets any accusation. Then the case goes before an arbitrator chosen by the teachers’ union and school district. Usually arbitrators’ decisions split the difference and result in suspensions or fines rather than dismissal. As a result of such protections, New York City infamously put hundreds of teachers in “rubber rooms,” where they were paid full salaries and accrued benefits but could not interact with kids. This “program” cost the city some $800 million a year. Unable to end it fully, the city converted it into the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR), which continued to pay teachers not to teach to the tune of $105 million a year. In 2019, 930 teachers held spots in the ATR—perhaps 25 of whom were there because of charges of misconduct—costing the city nearly $100 million in salaries and benefits. Within the confines of collective bargaining, public executives need to push for a recovery of management rights. Only then might school principals and police chiefs have a fighting chance of improving their organizations. Going further, states may want to revisit the extent to which work rules that establish disciplinary procedures should even be the subject of collective bargaining. Greater accountability in state and local government would be better for everyone, good teachers and cops included. Weeding out poor performers will improve public services, protect communities, boost organizational morale, and spur upward mobility. It’s time to put the mission of public agencies ahead of job protections for public workers. more at the link
Except for a few hot spots, isn't violent crime (and crime in general) down significantly since the early 90s? SOMETHING has been working...to an extent.
And the unions should do that. The owners of businesses and corporations put their interest above the public's and those of their workers. It is right and fair that unions put the interest of the workers first. Nobody else is going to. That being said our union works very hard to make sure changes are beneficial to the students and communities we serve.
I agree. There are people on both sides who believe that this literally does mean getting rid of the PD.
I think this defund the cops slogan is a landmine for Democrats and needs to be recalibrated before the election and real policy solutions need to be talked about instead of this catchall phrase. I am seeing progressives going after Biden because he is not signing on to the defund movement,I can all ready see this being the new M4A. I hope this will not become a thing. I am still trying to educate myself on all of this.
Pelosi has already told House Democrats to avoid using the terms "defund" and "disband". I think they are too loaded. Given the range of ideas I've seen just for Minneapolis there is a lot of confusion about what is meant by these and how far the city is actually going to move with defunding and disbanding. I think if Minneapolis is going to follow the Camden model something like "renovation" or "reconstitution" of PD might be more accurate.
