APD issues highlight problems with government employee unions
The left’s reaction — if there is one — will be interesting to the latest controversy between the Albuquerque Police Department’s union and the Berry Administration. The issue came to a head after the latest APD shooting and the Berry Administration’s call for more officer training.
There are three salient points from which we can begin the discussion:
1) Officers at APD have been involved in a lot of shootings recently;
2) In the private sector/real world, if your boss tells you to get more training and is paying you for this activity, you salute and say “thank you very much.” This is not a controversy;
3) Broadly speaking, “the left” tends to have more concerns about police shootings than those on the right.
The police union is being completely unreasonable here. It appears that the union believes that even accepting training on dealing with volatile situations is some kind of admission of guilt. I just don’t get it. The union is being confrontational for the sake of being confrontational. Is there any question that relations between City Hall and APD would be better without union hostility? Would Albuquerque be safer without a unionized police force? Will the left defend the Berry Administration or just sit by and let him fight a fight they should be a part of?