Burdened with the obligation of defending officers accused of misdeeds, police unions around the country are working out ways to train police to intervene and in some cases, report, fellow officers who are committing acts that could harm suspects or violate the public trust.

According to CNN, other unions such as the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters and SEIU are helping to adapt programs they have in place to develop “active bystanders” who step in when peers or people senior to them use unsafe tactics.  Trade unions and service groups implemented similar programs over the year to improve safety and practices.

Police unions are not typically part of the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters or SEIU, so they are under no obligation to take up the recommendations made by the three unions.  However, a representative of the largest police union, the Fraternal Order of Police, said they would consider suggestions. 

Jim Pasco, executive director of the national Fraternal Order of Police, declined to comment on the plan. “I’m fascinated by this but don’t have anything to say about it,” he said.

Two separate programs, one by a psychologist working with the New Orleans Police Department and other by Georgetown University Law School, are being implemented around the country.

The Georgetown program has trained more than 90,000 officers in more than 110 police departments.  While the New York and Baltimore police departments have signed on to do the training, the unions want the training exclusively for their members; Georgetown require all employees to participate.

After the murder of George Floyd, the AFL-CIO, Teamsters and SEIU convened a Racial Justice Task Force to evaluate race issues within their organizations.  The idea hit on comprehensive concepts.

“There is broad agreement among organized labor that meaningful public safety reforms are needed, and we must re-imagine the construct and relationship that law enforcement has with the communities we serve,” the committee wrote. “Public safety professionals, and our unions, have a duty to call out the wrong-doers and actions that harm people in our communities and, in doing so, the integrity of our profession. We can no longer stand idly by, or defend transgressors, when those who fail to uphold their oath and duty take actions that stain the work of law enforcement.”

“We’re not trying to be the tattletale squad on every little thing that happens on the job, but the point is you establish a set of standards and expectations of what it means to be a union professional, and when members see something doesn’t comport, they have a process in place that can remedy that,” said Liz Shuler, who co-chaired the union committee. “Right now, 95% are sitting silently back while 5% don’t do right by union values. This empowers the 95% and reclaims the notion of what it means to be a professional.”