How to prevent cops from killing: Weaken unions and make police pay for misconduct

How can police departments stop officers from unjustly killing civilians? That's the question law professor Deborah Ramirez at Northeastern University in Boston has been working on for years.

Colorado, she says, has taken an important first step. The state enacted legislation that makes police liable for bad behavior – forcing them to pay out of pocket when sued.

Before Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in May 2020, he had racked up 17 police department complaints. Similar to Chauvin, Eric Garner's killer, officer Daniel Pantaleo, had a record of misconduct complaints.

Unions protect bad officers

Having a problem officer on the force – with a documented record of misconduct – is not uncommon. However, police departments too often have failed to stop dangerous officers before they kill someone.

That's made worse by powerful police unions, which can make it hard to boot bad cops off the force. And a justice system that often overlooks police misconduct doesn't act as a deterrent.

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But Colorado's law – portions of which went into effect in June 2020 – may provide a deterrent where the justice system has failed.

It's uncommon for an officer to be charged let alone convicted in police brutality cases – a tragedy that disproportionately hits Black Americans. The fact that Chauvin's conviction for the death of Floyd was celebrated so heavily throughout the Black community is a testament to that.

He already had a bad record: A bad cop sexually assaulted me. Qualified immunity protected him and his boss.

Legislative action in Colorado, Ramirez says, may alleviate union controls. Paying out of pocket will likely force officers to buy insurance. And higher premiums, she's predicting, will force bad officers out of the profession.

Colorado's law allows civilians, private industry and law enforcement to work together to keep bad cops off the force, while rewarding good officers and recognizing their service. Instead of waiting for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, states should follow Colorado's lead.

How unions limit police chiefs

Unlike other professions in which managers have a big say in human resource decisions, unions have severely hampered the managerial controls of police chiefs – specifically, the ability to discipline and fire bad officers. These tools have been bargained away, leaving chiefs with limited recourse when faced with officers accused of misconduct.

Hiring good officers can be difficult, too. Ramirez says police chiefs report feeling hemmed in. They are limited by test scores and civil service exams.

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Even if chiefs see an officer using excessive force or know that an officer has repeated complaints filed against them, Ramirez says, it's difficult for the chief to discipline them because "the union-controlled arbitration process overturns the verdict."

The result: The officer is back at work.

Hit bad police where it counts: their wallets

Legislation that makes cops pay when they are sued (instead of police departments or municipalities) – like the law instituted in Colorado – could be a workaround to the power unions wield.

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But the increased threat of liability is causing some Colorado cops to leave the job, according to KUNC in Colorado. The national spotlight on police conduct has caused officers throughout the country to do the same, according to an NPR report. 

Ramirez theorizes that Chauvin could have been stopped – if he had had insurance – before he met Floyd in 2020. She cites, among others, a 2007 incident in which he and another officer pulled a woman over for speeding and handled the stop inappropriately. The woman was placed in the police car and, at some point, the camera recording the incident was cut. That incident (and others for which he was disciplined) would have caused his insurance premium to rise. As the complaints piled up, Ramirez says, he would have been priced off the force.

Colorado's law makes it easier to sue officers in civil court by eliminating qualified immunity for police. Officers found to be at fault are liable for the lesser of $25,000 or 5% of the settlement.

Denver Rep. Leslie Herod (a bill sponsor) said, in a CPR News report, that misconduct charges that have been filed against officers since the bill passed shows it's working.

Without a doubt, the state has taken steps toward increased accountability.

Carli Pierson is an attorney, former professor of human rights, writer and member of USA TODAY's Editorial Board. You can follow her on Twitter: @CarliPiersonEsq

This column is part of a series by USA TODAY Opinion about police accountability and building safer communities. The project began in 2021 by examining qualified immunity and continues in 2022 by examining various ways to improve law enforcement. The project is made possible in part by a grant from Stand Together, which does not provide editorial input.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How to stop the next Derek Chauvin: Make police pay for misconduct