A forum on police unions and their role in the culture of police violence in the United States

A KBOO Special Forum on Police Unions and their role in perpetuating a culture of police violence. This will be an in-depth look into the history, role and politics of police unions in the light of the post-Ferguson nation-wide uprising against police killings, abuse and impunity.

Three panel discussions hosted by Paul Roland will expore this issue from a variety of angles. First will be an overview of the history and role of police unions, going back to the early part of the 20th Century. Guests will include Joseph Slater, Professor of Law and Values at the University of Toledo College of Law (http://www.utoledo.edu/law/faculty/fulltime/slater.html) and Kristian Williams of Portland, author of Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America http://www.kristianwilliams.com/.
The second panel will discuss the status and role of police unions from a labor perspective. Guests will includeJonathan Tasini, long-time labor activist in New York (http://www.workinglife.org/); Jamie Partridge, local community activist with the Letter Carriers' Union and Jobs with Justice; Ahjamu Umi, local activist with the All African Peoples' Revolutionary Party and union organizer http://www.abetterworld.me/me.html.
The third panel will look at police accountability/reform/abolition, citzen review and oversight and alternatives to policing. Guests will include Flint Taylor, long-time people's attorney with the People's Law Office in Chicago (http://peopleslawoffice.com/about-civil-rights-lawyers/attorney-staff-bios/flint-taylor/; Ashlee Albies, attorney with the National Lawyers' Guild and with the Albina Ministerial Alliance in their ongoing involvement with the Department of Justice Settlement Process stemming from their lawsuit against the Portland Police Bureau http://www.civilrightspdx.com/?attorney=6;Teressa Raiford of Don't Shoot Portland https://www.facebook.com/DontShootPDX; Ahjamu Umi 

Further reading on these issues:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jacobfischler/nyc-labor-may-break-with-police-union#.ccWzB1p5yn
 
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/jonathan-tasini-labor-reject-lynch-bitter-bile-article-1.2060012
 
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17520/police_unions_racist
 
http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/organized-labor-ferguson#.wizej3r1YB

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/01/the-bad-kind-of-unionism/

http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/10/organized_labor_takes_on_race_and_michael_brown.html

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/12/how-police-unions-keep-abusive-cops-on-the-street/383258/

http://www.thenation.com/blog/194537/police-unions-dont-serve-people-can-labor-movement-force-them

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/22/police-unions-havealwaysbeenalabormovementapart.html

http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/organized-labor-ferguson#.pvWYyq8Yy

http://lawcha.org/wordpress/2014/12/29/stop-kidding-police-created-control-working-class-poor-people/

http://www.blackagendareport.com/node/14591

http://socialistworker.org/2014/12/16/armed-occupation-inside-the-empire

http://newpol.org/content/teachers-unions-police-and-real-new-civil-rights-movement

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jacobfischler/police-demilitarization-pits-police-union-against-top-labor#.vb54Zd04Z

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/29/1360927/-Jeff-Roorda-St-Louis-Police-Union-spokesman-wearing-Darren-Wilson-bracelet-assaults-cuts-woman

https://worxintheory.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/origins-of-the-police
 
To contact the host of this program, Paul Roland: paulakroland@gmail.com