Policing needs reform. The transformation can begin with police unions lessening the load

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, a majority of Americans woke up and became supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement.

There is no turning back the tide: the systemic racism that corrupts American society is going to be dismantled by this new majority, and policing as we know it is going to be irrevocably altered.

To be clear, policing is not the sole cause of racial injustice. It’s absurd to believe that after policing is “fixed,” then American society will be fixed, too. The injustice is caused by a complex brew of centuries of slavery, the legacy of Jim Crow and calcified layers of official government policies that protect white supremacy.

Our collective guilt for these sins cannot be outsourced entirely to the police. However, as a longtime advisor to public safety unions, it is clear to me that policing must be transformed.

Police unions are at a crossroads. One path is the reactionary path: to resist change and reflexively fight against reforms. This is what many police unions are doing, and it’s the wrong path.

The other path is the heroic path: to be agents of change. It is time for policing to be reimagined and police unions can lead the way.

Consider how an urban firefighter’s job description has changed over the years. Advancements in building codes and materials have led to fewer fires in our cities. So, with fewer fires to fight, fire unions have adapted and made themselves indispensable by providing EMT services.

An urban police officer’s job description has changed over the years, too. Cities are asking police officers to do many jobs: social worker, mental health expert and domestic violence counselor. But police departments have not adapted as quickly as fire departments to this new reality. Police now find themselves in a position where they are expected to deliver a range of services that they are simply not trained to deliver.

Privately, police officers tell me that they spend most of their time responding to issues that could be better taken care of by other specialized workers. Police are expected to help individuals in the throes of mental health episodes, remove homeless individuals from their encampments and enforce traffic laws. All these tasks could be done more effectively by professionals trained to respond to those specific issues in a constructive manner – a manner that does not necessarily involve an intervention by an armed officer.

The smartest solution is a dramatic reconfiguration of how services are delivered. Imagine, instead of a neighborhood police station, a “community safety hub.” In this building, under the same roof, a number of different kinds of professionals would sit should-to-shoulder: social workers, medics, homeless experts, hostage negotiators, drug counselors, domestic violence therapists and armed officers. When a 911 call comes in about a homeless individual having an episode, the right mix of unarmed specialists would be dispatched. If a 911 call comes in about a drug overdose, a slightly different mix of unarmed experts would be assembled. And if a 911 call comes in about a violent bank robbery, a social worker may be of little use, but armed officers could be deployed to do what they do best – fight violent crime.

Meanwhile, out on the roadways, imagine a fleet of unarmed traffic monitors. Instead of writing a $100 ticket for a blown-out taillight, a traffic monitor, carrying a toolbox, could help replace the taillight and bill the driver for the cost.

This reconfiguration would have many benefits, not the least of which is fewer armed interactions between government employees and the people they serve. Derek Thompson of the Atlantic dives deep into this idea, which he calls “unbundling.” He boils it down to two questions: “What is it that police should actually do?” and “Why do we need armed police to do it?” The answer is obvious: many tasks could be performed more safely and effectively by other specialists.

Police unions have nothing to fear from unbundling. Like any other labor union, the core mission of police unions is to ensure that their members have good wages, benefits and working conditions. With reduced tensions between the police and the communities they serve – and the resulting reduction in use of force – instead of spending millions in members’ dues defending “bad apples,” unions can refocus on their core mission, and even widen their membership to include medics, counselors and social workers who work at “community safety hubs.”

Every single cop I know got into the profession for the noblest reason: to be a guardian who protects innocent victims. But across the nation, police unions are being condemned as enablers of brutality.

It’s time for police unions to lead the way and help city leaders reimagine public safety services. The outpouring of support for the Black Lives Matter movement has given police unions a fresh opportunity to be what they signed up to be: heroes.

This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM.