Reforming collective bargaining agreements in law enforcement could result in significantly more accountability. These changes could better protect the public against abuses by misbehaving officers and help ensure the promotion and retention of officers who perform their duties well. Such reforms can be accomplished by amending state laws that control collective bargaining in the public sector.
The Michigan Public Employment Relations Act of 1947 sets out the right of state government employees in Michigan to organize and collectively bargain. For public school employers, the statute includes a list of 17 subjects, including employee discipline, that shall not be included in an agreement between a public school and the employees’ bargaining representative.[26]
This could be a model for legislators seeking to improve the quality of local law enforcement by weeding out bad actors in the police force. They should consider prohibiting the following categories from law enforcement collective bargaining agreements:
Alternatively, legislators could also add to the public employment statute specific sections setting forth what the Legislature believes represents a balance between the interests of the public, employers and employees for each of these categories. This could include requiring the losing party in an arbitration to pay both parties’ costs and mandating the consideration of discipline beyond a written warning in performance evaluations. If the Legislature were to regulate uniform terms with respect to these issues, however, it should be mindful of not only of the interests of officers and police departments, but also the general public.
These reforms would better balance the public’s interest in effective law enforcement while also protecting officers from unnecessary or inappropriate discipline. This balancing of interests is an important step that will protect police officers who perform their duties properly, while allowing departments to remove those who fail to uphold the high standards of a public servant. Adopting these reforms would benefit both the public and the officers who serve it.