Thread by @samswey

When we reviewed police union contracts in 81 cities, 53% of the cities required misconduct records be “purged.” The entire accountability system for police is structured by these contracts, which are approved by city councils every 3-5 yrs. PAY ATTENTION. checkthepolice.org

If you want more accountability in policing then you probably will need to change the police union contract to address the systemic factors that prevent officers from being held accountable. If you don’t know what’s in your city’s contract, find out here: checkthepolice.org

If you want an empowered community oversight structure that can independently investigate police misconduct...you probably will need a strategy that involves getting your city council to reject the current contract/push for this structure to be added in negotiations.

If you want your city to stop investing so much money in policing and invest in communities instead - guess where most of that policing $$ is spent? Most of the money is spent on police salaries, benefits and incentives that are established in THE POLICE UNION CONTRACT.

And if you want to reduce the size of the police force (and overall spending), the contracts usually require layoffs/force reduction based on officer seniority (rather than, say, a record of not using excessive force) so the contract preserves older, whiter officers on the force.

In fact, recent research from @abdulisrad finds cities that have the most problematic police union contracts also have *the highest rates of police violence.* The contracts are where a corrupt system is specified and maintained, hidden in plain sight. joincampaignzero.org/s/Police-Insti…

The good news is the contracts can be changed. Cities like Austin have done it. Activists like @iGiveYouMoore have organized local campaigns that have won these changes. The challenge is to scale this strategy nationwide. nytimes.com/2019/04/08/opi…

It’s wild that language like this gets negotiated behind the scenes and approved in a contract between a city and police union and it’s barely even reported in the media. Police unions aren’t even asked to defend these things in public. That has to change.