Police chiefs and politicians, frustrated by union bosses, have held up collective bargaining agreements as impediments to police reform and barriers to getting rid of bad cops. The calling out of collective bargaining contracts has made an already-tense relationship between labor unions and management even more fraught. But even these federal consent decrees couldn't override collective bargaining contracts that were barriers to accountability, Smith said. PART FOUR: 'FED UP' POLICE RALLY BEHIND THEIR OWN IN FACE OF POST-GEORGE FLOYD SCRUTINYAs for the union contracts, Gamaldi said there's nothing in them that prevents a district attorney from criminally charging a police officer. And for officers who are disciplined, the union contracts allow for just one appeal to a third-party arbitrator, which he says is reasonable.

Source: Fox News June 19, 2020 17:26 UTC