The Crime Report Discusses Police Misconduct Study by Dharmapala, McAdams, and Rappaport

Violent Misconduct Rose after Florida Sheriff’s Deputies Joined Union: Study

Violent misconduct among sheriff’s deputies in Florida increased by 40 percent after they won collective bargaining rights, according to a study by three University of Chicago researchers.

The study tabulated the number of adjudicated violent incidents of misbehavior recorded in state databases between 1996 and 2003—when officers were given the right to unionize under a Florida Supreme Court ruling—and the period following the ruling, to 2015.

 They compared the figure to a “control group” of already-unionized Florida police officers over the same time, and found no similar effect from the Coastal Florida Police Benevolent Association v. Williams decision.

“(Our findings) show that the conferral of collective bargaining rights on officers at Sheriff’s Offices led to an increase in violent incidents, relative to a control group of (police departments) that were unaffected by Williams,” the study said.

 

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