Why The Public Needs To Know More About Police Contract Talks In Hawaii and across the U.S., advocates for police accountability are scrutinizing the union contracts that keep troublesome officers on the job.
Over the next few months, Hawaii’s statewide police union will negotiate a new contract expected to result in pay raises for nearly 3,000 officers spread across four counties, most of them on Oahu.
The talks, which include union, state and county officials, will take place behind closed doors and confidentiality provisions agreed to by the parties mean the public won’t know what’s on the bargaining table until the ink has dried.
One topic that’s unlikely to get much play, however, is police accountability.
