Defunding Is One Place Police Unions See Vaunted Powers Limited

Local governments most likely can drastically cut police budgets and reinvest in social services without needing to negotiate with police unions, which often have been criticized for resisting reform and accountability, labor law professors said.

A government’s decision to “defund the police” by shifting money and public safety responsibilities away from police and to other agencies probably would fall under its inherent management rights, professors said. That means it only would have to negotiate over a defunding plan’s effect on cops—such as reassignments, layoffs, and severance—rather than the plan itself.

Unions certainly could make defunding maneuvers drawn out and politically ...