zlacker

>>danso+(OP)
Unions protect bad apples, that shouldn’t be the purpose of unions. It should be illegal.

>>menset+dq
Police unions are almost all terrible. Seattle kicked their police union out of the local labor council, and it would be great to see more cities do the same.

>>Pfhrea+wB
Any additional information on how Seattle police union is terrible?

>>DenisM+sy1
They've consistently pushed back on reforms from both the community and the federal consent decree. They insist they are 'tough on crime' and the city is holding them back, going so far as to demand people vote out the city council.

They've described the concerns about policing as "the flavor of the week", they fought against body cams, they've defended police in well documented cases of retaliatory and unbecoming behavior.

>>Pfhrea+DI1
It would be nice to have links. "defended police in well documented cases of retaliatory and unbecoming behavior" is bit too vague to follow up upon.

>>DenisM+wK1
Sure, here's a handful:

https://komonews.com/news/local/police-union-president-defen...

https://mynorthwest.com/70234/police-union-head-vehemently-d...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/07/13/se...

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/memo-seattle...

http://www.courts.wa.gov/content/publicupload/eclips/2015%20...

https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article64596437.ht...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/seattle-cop-punches-teen-in-fac...

>>Pfhrea+wO1
Clicked the last link from your list, see this: The two were already struggling when Levias' friend, a 17-year-old, pushed the officer, and he responded by punching the friend in the face.

Is this the sort of thing you consider outrageous?

>>DenisM+MZ1
Outrageous is your word. Have you seen the video? The cop full on decks a woman who gives his arm a light push. It's definitely out of line, he's not trying to defuse the situation, he's grappling another woman and is clearly out of control of the situation.

This continues a pattern of excessive force from the dept. From the Justice Department's findings on the SPD:

> Our investigation finds repeated uses of excessive force for charges related to minor offenses, including pedestrian interference, obstruction, open container violations, jaywalking, and shoplifting. In a number of incidents, failure to use tactics designed to de-escalate a situation, led to increased and unnecessary force.

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/...

>>Pfhrea+pa2
The video doesn’t show on my phone. From your description it sounds somewhat excessive, but not outlandishly so.

Also I find it odd that decade-old events are being brought up. Yes, it’s pretty much a recorded fact that excessive force was used back then. DOJ forced the the SPD through a reform program, the result of that program should be judged to decide what if anything needs to be done at SPD. Otherwise it’s like this:

  SPD did bad things in 2010, they must reform!
  Ok. SPD Does reforms 2010-2020
  SPD did bad things in 2010, defund!

Every time a story predating consent decree comes up I interpret it as lack of newer stories, hence I conclude the reforms worked well.