This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Thursday, November 19th, 2015.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Do police unions protect bad cops?

And do the concessions that police unions win for their members contribute to

quality policing? At the State Policy Network annual meeting in Grand Rapids

Michigan I spoke with Derek Cohen of the Texas Public Policy Foundation about the proper role of police unions.

Conservatives and more broadly Republicans like to talk about the problems that unions present, but almost always excluded from that

discussion of unions are police unions and where in, they talk about unions protecting teachers who are ineffective or actively damaging within the classroom.

You really don't hear that much from conservatives about what damage or

protection of ineffective cops, unions for police actually provide?

Certainly, certainly.

I think you hit the nail right on the head that, you know, when we have problems in the

classroom, you know, there are more intractable issues put

in place by these using when it has to do with discipline curriculum delivery whatever

the case may be however there still usually is a route to satisfactory

resolution of any sort of complaint or any sort of issue. The problem with

police unions, and fully recognizing that police officers do have a

nuanced and complex job, it is nearly impossible

to fully discipline an individual outside the purview of the union.

You know, the unions in most states have enshrined what's known as the law

enforcement officer's bill of rights and this law enforcement officer's bill of rights

dictates very strictly what can be done to officers suspected of violating rules much less ones that are you

...