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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2020)
B4 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020 Contracts can stand in way of police accountability By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press SEATTLE — A stipu- lation in a Kentucky police contract prohibited offi cials from initially fi ring the offi - cers involved in Breonna Taylor’s death in Louisville. The disciplinary history of a Chicago police offi - cer who fatally shot Laquan McDonald had been deleted under the department’s con- tract, so offi cials didn’t know about the offi cer’s previous bad behavior. A Seattle offi cer fi red for arresting an elderly Black man who used a golf club as a cane got $100,000 in back pay, thanks to the union con- tract that said the investiga- tion missed a deadline. Collective bargaining agreements for offi cers pro- vide protections that stand in the way of accountabil- ity, even when the federal government is overseeing an agency through a con- sent decree, experts said. The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis offi cer ignited protests and calls for change, but experts say police contracts threaten to undermine those efforts. Contracts designed to ensure offi cers receive fair wages and benefi ts have spilled over into public policy. “We’re ignoring the pur- pose of the bargaining rights and we’re allowing them to step outside of what they were originally supposed to cover,” said Ayesha Bell Hardaway of the Case West- ern University School of Law. “When (we) talk about discipline, accountability and use of force protocols, we should not be talking about collective bargaining rights because those terms have no business inside of the con- tracts in the fi rst place.” When contracts are writ- ten in private negotiations, that means little input from communities. “Without transparency there can’t be any account- ability,” she said. James Pasco, exec- utive director of the 351,000-member National Fraternal Order of Police, recently said the issue should be better screening and more training for recruits, not lim- iting contracts. “We don’t get to decide who our members are,” he said. Stephen Rushin, a Loyola University Chicago law school professor, has stud- ied police contracts nation- ally and detailed their prob- lems in an article published in the Duke Law Journal. “A substantial number of these agreements limit offi cer interrogations after alleged misconduct, man- date the destruction of disci- plinary records, ban civilian oversight, prevent anony- mous civilian complaints, Ted S. Warren/AP Photo Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan looks on as Police Chief Carmen Best, right, speaks at a news conference at City Hall in Seattle earlier this month. ‘WHEN (WE) TALK ABOUT DISCIPLINE, ACCOUNTABILITY AND USE OF FORCE PROTOCOLS, WE SHOULD NOT BE TALKING ABOUT COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS BECAUSE THOSE TERMS HAVE NO BUSINESS INSIDE OF THE CONTRACTS IN THE FIRST PLACE.’ Ayesha Bell Hardaway | Case Western University School of Law indemnify offi cers in the event of civil suits, and limit the length of internal inves- tigations,” he said. Some contracts let an offi cer see videos of offenses before an offi cer is interviewed, give an offi cer a 48-hour delay before they speak to internal affairs and allows an offi cer to appeal a punishment to arbitrators who can overturn rulings, an Associated Press investiga- tion found. “These examples bolster the hypothesis that some union contract provisions may impede effective inves- tigations of police miscon- duct and shield problematic offi cers from discipline,” Rushin said. The problem is more than union overreach, he said. “It’s an indictment of the city for granting those con- cessions. Police unions only have the power that politi- cians give them,” he said. Seattle is an exam- ple of how elected offi - cials allowed police unions to insert controversial mea- sures during closed negotia- tions, over the objections of community groups. “The Seattle story is a microcosm of what’s hap- pening elsewhere in the country,” Rushin told The Associated Press. “It high- lights perfectly this con- fl ict between major reform efforts and the extent to which labor protections can make it hard to engage in real change.” In 2011, a federal judge found that the Seattle Police Department had engaged in a pattern of excessive force. The city entered into a set- tlement agreement, or con- sent decree, the following year and passed an account- ability measure for addi- tional oversight. About 70 law enforce- ment agencies nationwide have faced consent decrees, according to the U.S. Justice Department. The police overhaul bill in Congress includes a sec- tion that would cut federal funds for a law enforcement agency that “enters into or renews any contractual arrangement, including a collective bargaining agree- ment with a labor organiza- tion, that confl icts with any terms or conditions con- tained in a consent decree.” By 2018, the judge in Seattle said the depart- ment was in compliance, Should I keep the journals? Note: This column fi rst nals from the times when he appeared in 2018. was not. They contain not Dear Annie: I need some only comments about the advice on what to do about diffi culties I went through my daily journals. I dealing with his keep a daily journal drinking but also DEAR and have for many information about ANNIE years — including the family’s nor- during a time when mal daily life — my husband was an for example, chil- alcoholic. He’s been dren’s sports games. sober for 27 years. I’d like to save my (We are in our late journals in case my 70s.) grandchildren or In those journals, ANNIE LANE great-grandchildren Creators I wrote about the would like to know, Syndicate Inc. times he got drunk in the future, what — of his stumbling their grandmother’s around in a drunken stu- or great-grandmother’s por, of his passing out in his life was like, but I wonder lounger with our children about the wisdom of mak- sitting in the room, of his ing it possible for them to lying about going to Alco- read about their alcoholic holics Anonymous meet- grandfather or great-grand- ings and instead going to the father. Should I leave the club and drinking for hours. journals unabridged, or I wrote about all these times should I take only the good and more, describing the excerpts from them to pre- family’s embarrassment serve my husband’s sober and frustration and adding image? His grandchildren my own angry comments. only know him as a loving Now that he’s been — sober man. I don’t know so thankfully — sober all whether our children have these years, I’m wondering ever enlightened their own what to do about those jour- children about how their grandfather used to be before he stopped drinking. I have a hunch they have never said anything about it. So, what do I do? At my age, I’m thinking that if I’m going to change anything, I’d better start doing it now. — Deliberating Diarist Dear Deliberating Dia- rist: Your family’s strug- gle with alcoholism is not something you or your hus- band should feel ashamed of, and it might actually be helpful for your grandchil- dren and great-grandchil- dren to be made aware of it — when they’re old enough — as they may be genet- ically predisposed to the disease themselves. Even if they’re not at risk, they will inevitably face some hard- ships of their own. How special it would be for them to be able to look to the pages of your journal and remember their heritage of perseverance, exasperat- ing, challenging, fulfi lling, maddening, awe-inspiring — not always pretty but ultimately still beautiful. but warned that “if collec- tive bargaining results in changes to the accountabil- ity ordinance that the court deems to be inconsistent with the consent decree, than the city’s progress ... will be imperiled.” Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said the city was a national model for overhaul- ing the police department. But community members felt duped after she nego- tiated in private with the union for a contract that vio- lated the accountability mea- sure and the consent decree. One Seattle offi cer who benefi ted from the union contract in recent years was Cynthia Whitlach. She had arrested an elderly Black man, claiming he swung his golf club cane at her. Her dashcam video showed he had not. After the charges were dismissed, the man fi led a federal lawsuit and was awarded $325,000. A jury found Whitlatch had engaged in racial discrimination. Whitlatch was fi red but the union fi led a grievance claiming the investigation was not completed in 180 days, as required by the con- tract. The city awarded her $100,000 in back pay. Minor stipulations in police contracts like the 180-day rule are common. A stipulation in a Kentucky police contract kept the offi - cers involved in Taylor’s death from immediately get- ting fi red. Under the Kentucky police bill of rights and the Louisville police contract, an offi cer cannot be disci- plined “without just cause,” said Annale Taylor, the city’s deputy general coun- sel, who is not related to Breonna Taylor. In order to establish “just cause,” a thorough inves- tigation must be done, she said. If offi cers are fi red before that work is com- plete, they could appeal, go back to work and sue, she said.
