Breezing through the news, the manly image of Cleveland Police Patrolman’s Association boss, Det. Jeffrey Follmer, hit the screen. He struck me as comical, the cartoon version of a third-rate city’s tough-guy cop. Just too much of a dumbass not to laugh at.
But after some contemplation of this bald beagle, it occurred to me that as buffoonish as he may have seemed, he was likely sitting there with a gun strapped to some part of his body, and Tamir Rice was still dead. There should be no laughing at Follmer.
Aside: 12-year-old Tamir Rice was not a “survivor.” His parents, family and loved ones suffered the “profound trauma” of his killing. You may care deeply about the fact of his being shot down by P.O. Timothy Loehmann, but unless you are among that small group of loved ones, you did not suffer trauma. To claim so is not only a lie, but diminishes the loss of those who did. You are not among them no matter how deeply you feel the pain.
What makes Follmer, and his counterparts like Pat Lynch in New York City, so dangerous isn’t that they are persuasive, but that they wield money and power. In a rational world, no dumbass like Follmer would get on television to spew flagrant idiocy. But in our world, his face graces the screen, because he’s a police union boss.
David Brooks writes in the New York Times about how public sector unionism stands in the way of addressing some of our deepest systemic failures:
On the one hand, as wages have stagnated while profits have soared, it does seem that there is something out of whack in the balance of power between labor and capital. Workers need some new way to collectively bargain for more money.
Sadly, Brooks’ opening conflates private sector unionism with public sector. In the public sector, profits don’t soar. The government just reaches into our pockets and takes what it needs. As for wages stagnating, you should have such a sweet deal.
On the other hand, unions, and especially public-sector unions, have done a lot over the past decades to rigidify workplaces, especially government. Teachers’ unions have become the single biggest impediment to school reform. Police unions have become an impediment to police reform.
While others, as here, talk about how to prevent police misconduct, abuse and the occasional murder at will, the people in a position to change things need two things we don’t give them: campaign money and an endorsement that will make the typical voter comfortable knowing that they have the support of the cops.
In exchange, all the unions want is national hegemony.
But it’s very hard to remove the bad apples from the force. Trying to protect their members, unions have weakened accountability. The investigation process is softer on police than it would be on anyone else. In parts of the country, contract rules stipulate that officers get a 48-hour cooling-off period before having to respond to questions. They have access to the names and testimony of their accusers. They can be questioned only by one person at a time. They can’t be threatened with disciplinary action during questioning.
More seriously, cops who are punished can be reinstated through a secretive appeals process that favors job retention over public safety. In The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf has a riveting piece with egregious stories of cops who have returned to the force after clear incompetence.
While Brooks may have a naïve grasp of “bad apples,” as the rare malevolent individuals rather than situational and cultural problems, don’t be too harsh on him. Why would he be expected to realize any more than the ordinary uninformed citizen dependent on police to protect his privileged status quo?
He goes on to compile a pretty good laundry list of ways in which police unions impede accountability, responsibility and change. They protect their members, right or wrong, and frankly, they just don’t have a big issue with the First Rule of Policing being First. Indeed, the union slogan is just “obey us and maybe you can go home for dinner too.”
Eventually, Brooks gets to a point:
We get mad at racism, but most government outrages have structural roots. The left doesn’t want to go after police unions because they’re unions. The right doesn’t want to because they represent law and order. Politicians of all stripes shy away because they are powerful.
Much as thoughtful people of all political perspectives are coming to the epiphany that maybe, just maybe, things have gotten completely out of control, that police exist as force unto themselves that respects neither right nor left, and definitely not young black men who might hurt them, Brooks’ point that police unions have quietly grabbed a measure of power is so overwhelming and institutionalized that a dumbass like Follmer has greater control over whether the cop who would blow away a kid on sight keeps his gun and shield.
While public perception about police may start to shift, public understanding of the power and influence of police unions remains almost non-existent. It’s not whether they get free shoes and a vested pension at 20 years, but that cops who kill over and over are untouchable. Even in the rarest of instances of a cop getting canned for being outrageously violent and demonstrating no capacity to restrain himself, his firing may make the papers but his reinstatement a few years later with back pay rarely hits the radar.
The problem is the union. That’s the same union that’s run by dumbasses like Follmer. No, Follmer is no one to laugh at.
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This begs the questions of why police unions aren’t brought in as parties to wrongful death suits that arise from the culture and practices they arguably instill but indisputably support in their membership? Or why cities are not pursuing them for contribution and indemnity?
First, “begs the question” doesn’t mean what you think it does. It’s a contention that assumes its conclusion through circular reasoning, also known as the logical fallacy of petitio principii.
Second, this is a law blog, and your comment reflects no grasp of law whatsoever. The reason police unions aren’t parties to wrongful death suits is that they would have no liability under any theory of law whatsoever. Thanks for playing.
I have no doubt that you’re correct, but I’d love the see someone pick the right police dept – preferably one with an ugly history, pending Federal oversight and some existing judgements against it – then spend the money necessary to bankrupt that particular police union from lawyers fees alone.
I’m sure that Scott is gratified by your rubbing his tummy, but you show no more knowledge of the law than the comment by Daddy-O.
First, any federal oversight would be of the city and its police department, not the police union. Second, even if the department has had judgments against it (which every major city would), that still doesn’t affect the union. Finally, how are you going to get lawyer fees? In most cases the city covers those when it indemnifies the officer, and if not, the dues that have been paid cover it.
You’re not going to bankrupt a police union that way.
Agreed. Those particular thoughts are no more than an idle fantasy. My more realistic ideas involve the Police Union and the city taking out some kind of insurance policy, such that a fired officer who won arbitration would receive some kind of payout rather than return to work.
The problem I see with that approach is such as system might be gameable and it would involve allowing an insurance company undue influence on whether a bad cop should be allowed back on the streets.
If those are your more realistic ideas, you should start sniffing glue.
RICO
~~~The problem is the union. That’s the same union that’s run by dumbasses like Follmer. No, Follmer is no one to laugh at.~~~
I transported myself into the wrong sort of cop bar on the outskirts of Phoenix Arizona last night. You should have heard the jokes about the recently fired chief. Then a brawl broke out.
I might have been dreaming but somewhere out in there in the universe is an “unsanctioned” twenty minute press conference of him slamming the PD unions that represent the officers he is “sorta charged” with disciplining.
And the band played on….
P.S. It is neither here not there and I have no idea what sort of “hat” Phoenix Chief wore with his slippers but his rant goes hand in glove with this post and his and the Phoenix PD unions back story and rhetoric had me uncorking the good stuff to find the good stuff.
I failed. But there may be something lurking just under the surface out there in that hot and dusty metropolis.
Give my love to Crazy Joe. Nice pink underpants, by the way.
But no Joe here silly. You should know better than to lump in those elected county lawmen with city lawmen.
This guy was originally from Texas before he went west and goes by the name Daniel Garcia.
Just the other day he was the main badge that stood for just over three thousand or so badges plus support staff.
“Unions representing Phoenix police officers sought a vote of no confidence in Garcia last month, alleging the chief had lost credibility with the officers in his charge.”
“Garcia was heavily criticized after a police officer who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following a drunken driving arrest was fired and then killed himself. Craig Tiger’s 2013 termination under a new “get tough” policy on officer DUIs came a year after he and his partner were involved in the fatal shooting of a man who was threatening people with a bat.”
A few tidbits from a paper out of Dallas. Sorry to muck up your post here but this “story” and the what and how it is being covered perplexes me and does roll in with this post. Especially this bit:
~~While public perception about police may start to shift, public understanding of the power and influence of police unions remains almost non-existent.~~~
I drifted on over to one of your regular readers sites who has more expertise in police matters than I (although I know I can cook better ribs) and left a request for insight but he wasn’t biting. Not sure how much reading he has done on this particular showdown though.
Now why should that perplex you, dear Barleycorn? People hear the police union bosses waxing stupid, but give little thought to the campaign contributions and endorsements. After all, everybody loves police union endorsements, as only the really worthy politicians get those.
~~Garcia told the group he’d like to see all officers wearing body cameras within the next two to three years so that all encounters are recorded.~~
Garcia speaking to a community group to address why a woman with a known history of mental illness history who happened to have a claw hammer was shot dead as the police were attempting to take her to a psychiatric facility.
Back in 2012…
~~~Joe Clure, President of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, said the changes have offended some officers.~~~
Say what?
~~Clure said Garcia is now working on approving tougher punishments for officers who get in trouble.
Clure said the officers he has spoken with want Garcia to focus on helping them do their job instead of nitpicking the small things.~~~
Well no shit! Who likes a nitpicking chief, I mean cop, I mean…well never mind….see, I am still confused!
I need my teddy bear…
Sorry. You do not cook better ribs.
I haven’t done much reading on it at all, I was focusing on finals, so I can’t really speak to Phoenix and its former chief.
Finals?
Get your priorities straight ; )
So you think regarding ribs but just like this Phoenix quandary most cops think they are always right even when they become former cops.
You however, are a guild glider so there is hope for you. Who knows you may even choose the correct niche in your next guild and one day be awarded the Joel Rosenberg Best Criminal Law Blawg Post.
In the meantime you best start planing wisely with the fruits of your first pension and buy some more acreage because you will need the room if you want to plant a few acres of corn to finish a half dozen hogs and a few beef cattle. Because no mater what you might think you will never truly master bbq ribs or a few dozen other delectable cuts if you don’t plant some seeds.
Planting seeds guild glider, it is all about planting seeds if you want to be in it for the long haul. Did you not learn that from your previous union leadership?
Cheers and a pro tip: there is always enough time to have at least one blow out meal on the BBQ each and every week.