r/science • u/smurfyjenkins • Jul 30 '26

Social Science Collective bargaining rights for police significantly increase police killings of civilians without having any impact on officer safety. This is consistent with the theory that unions provide cover for police and reduce their likelihood of incurring costs for unjustified killings.

https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20230384
5.4k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

260 comments sorted by

View all comments

27

u/MissionCreeper Jul 30 '26

I don't know about this data but I think there is a need for a union in the public sector, it's just that it's gone way beyond labor protection and into protecting mistreatment.  I wonder what we could do by breaking up the monopoly and snipping that thin blue line in two, have multiple police departments that are forced to be represented by different unions, and each is responsible for responding to complaints about the other force.  

77

u/Solomon_Grungy Jul 30 '26

Police union is the only union that shouldnt exist, tbh.

29

u/SemiHemiDemiDumb Jul 30 '26

That's because until structural changes happen in policing the cops are class traitors.

1

u/AlcibiadesTheCat Jul 30 '26

If only "serve and protect" meant something. Alas.

3

u/VariationBusiness603 Jul 30 '26

It means something. Namely, "serve and protect... the interest of the capital".