V. Conclusion: Defeating Double Due Process

The common LEOBOR provisions above are not reasonable concessions to laborers. They are not good faith measures intended to help police officers do their difficult job while safeguarding them from heavy-handed management or restoring rights unjustly stripped away. The contradiction between the sales pitch for those provisions and the real world effects reveals their nature as codified escape routes for police to avoid accountability for their actions. LEOBORs are pushed by police unions that show a disdain and distrust of the population their members serve and utter hostility towards anyone who would take away their power or who suggests that maybe, just maybe, policing in America can be better. The highly publicized police violence of the last few years have opened many Americans' eyes to what their fellow citizens--far too often people of color--already knew: American policing can be violent and cruel. If we want it to be better, double due process must be destroyed.

Nick Place is a graduate of the George Washington University Law School, class of 2017.