Criminal Justice Labor Organization

Name of Student

Name of Institution

The basic reason for the existence of labor unions is to guard the interests of its members in the best way through every machinery and avenue possible. At least this is the theoretical standing. As simple as the argument may sound, however, conflict of interests are inevitable in any labor union (Allen & Sawhney, 2009). A union not only has the interests of its members at heart, but those of the employer too. When a union strives to further the interests of the employer, the employee is at risk, and from here emerges the conflict of interest.

Unions in the criminal justice system are the most powerful in the United States. However, these unions are unique, arguing from the perspective of conflict of interests. Conflict of interests in these unions has effects that affect every other person out there aside from the law enforcement officers. The members of the public employ these law enforcement officers. Consequently, any conflict of interest within the unions puts the officers at a dangerous position against the members of the public whom they owe a service duty (Allen & Sawhney, 2009). Such a conflict as this cannot be cured easily.

A good example is the duty of law enforcement officers to arrest criminals instead of defending them. Where police unions are involved, the officers may end up defending criminals instead of arresting them. This will pervert justice against the will of members of the public. A case in point is in Alabama where law enforcement officers set up some benefit for purposes of funding the defense of fellow officers caught beating up an unconscious man (Gray, 2009). This shows how far police unions can go in derailing the justice process. As brutal and insensitive as it sounds, law enforcement unions have a reason to stay. They serve a crucial role of guarding the officers from public servants who champion political favoritism as compared to merit.

References

Allen, J. M. & Sawhney, R. (2009). Administration and Management in Criminal Justice: A

Service Quality Approach. NY: Springer

Gray, J. (2009). Police unions to barbecue to help defend officers fired in videotaped beating.

Retrieved 16 February 2015 from HYPERLINK “http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/10/police_unions_to_barbecue_to_h.html” http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/10/police_unions_to_barbecue_to_h.html