So what's the deal with cops (esp. Boston)? [View All]

[mrgorth]

You know, I'm Irish Catholic. Lots of my family were cops. I like cops as long as they're not abusing their power. Don't cops have union? Aren't unions usually democratic?

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/8553928.htm

BOSTON - The Republican-friendly police union in Boston is threatening to play "bad cop" at the Democratic National Convention this summer even as hometown candidate John Kerry prepares to accept his party's nomination for president.

The 1,400-member Boston Police Patrolmen's Association plans a picket to help induce the city to accept its pay demands - an in-your-face tactic to embarrass the city and convention delegates usually sympathetic to union efforts. In the past, the union has held true to its threats by picketing state party gatherings.

The police association, which has a long tradition of endorsing Republican candidates for president, has played havoc with presidential politics before. In 1988, it delivered a blow to Democrat Michael Dukakis' bid by endorsing Republican George Bush. The image of the elder Bush standing with uniformed officers in Boston sent a symbolic message nationwide that their hometown candidate was soft on crime.

I mean, is it just all the machismo?