After the rally, the union representing Bologna issued a statement saying it "will not be ready and will not see the Bologna inspector set in train".
As public opinion evolves on the issues of police violence and racial discrimination, and as cities begin to rethink their approach to law enforcement, powerful police unions across the country are digging the ground and prepare for a unique generation confrontation over the police.
The flash point has apparently been brewing for years and has exploded in intensity with each large-scale police murder involving an African American. Elected officials, facing more pressure than ever after the police murder of George Floyd last month in Minneapolis, pledge to take action.
"Let me be clear, we are going after the police union," Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said on ABC Good Morning America on Monday after city council members said they wanted to go even more. away and dismantle the local police department to pursue other police models.
But that could be easier said than done. Police unions in the United States have significant power and have higher membership rates than many other unions, which have declined in recent years. Government officials and labor experts also told CNN that police union contracts often make it more difficult to remove officers who have been reported for misconduct - a major obstacle to reform.
"They have become far too powerful. They form political action committees. They donate to the race of district or state prosecutors, senators and state officials, etc.", Charles Ramsey, former DC police chief and former Philadelphia police commissioner said CNN on Sunday. "And then we wonder why you can't do anything."
For the first time, police unions will face a skeptical public that does not automatically support law enforcement. New polls indicate that most Americans now recognize that African Americans are more likely to be abused or even killed by the police.
"This is great," legendary GOP pollster Frank Luntz tweeted Monday about a dramatic change in the way Americans view police violence. After Eric Garner died in police custody in 2014, 33% of Americans said they thought the police were more likely to use excessive force against African Americans. This figure now stands at 57%, according to a poll last week.
In response to public sentiment over the past two weeks, Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Order of Brotherhood Police, the country's largest law enforcement union, told CNN that his organization was ready to sit down with "anyone, at any time who wishes to have a factual discussion" on public and police safety, and that these discussions were ongoing.
"Corrosive" police culture
For years, lawmakers on both sides have passed police-friendly laws and empowered police unions in their cities. But at the moment, openness to bipartisanship could be limited.
"We need reform in the area of police unions to ensure that the chief can effectively exercise disciplinary control over the force," said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is personally responsible for the prosecution of the four police officers involved in the death of Floyd.
Democrats in the House unveiled a sweeping proposal Monday to address racial disparities in the police service. Among other things, the bill would establish a national registry of police misconduct.
It is not clear that Republicans will support this bill, but some break with President Donald Trump's hard line toward the protests, which he focused more on than the murder of Floyd. Utah Senator Mitt Romney protested at a Black Lives Matter weekend protest in Washington, DC.
And the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, released a report last year that many police unions "go against best practices in professional law enforcement standards" and are more anxious to support the union than to promote public safety.
Ronal Serpas, former police chief of New Orleans and Nashville, said the country's unions had successfully negotiated control of disciplinary processes, creating a "corrosive" culture where problem officers know their union will protect them from the consequences.
"To change police culture, we need to change the way contracts are treated," said Serpas, who oversaw police reform in New Orleans after years of corruption and after Hurricane Katrina.
Decades of collective bargaining have resulted in police forces where department heads have little control, and unions have set the conditions for internal investigations. Even if an officer is officially punished, the nuances of the contract often help officers prevail on appeal, Serpas said.
For example, some agreements with police unions have described how long police officers must wait to investigate an incident, how they can ask the police questions and what they can ask, and how quickly the department must complete an investigation. Taken together, it puts disciplinary power in the hands of unions, which are created to protect police jobs.
Sometimes, police of color are discriminated against within their own forces, and police unions have been complicit in allowing these inequalities to worsen and survive, experts told CNN.
As local governments seek to introduce further reforms, they will have to rewrite many of these policies and recover some of the powers they have ceded to police unions, said Serpas.
"Unions are doing what they are supposed to do - finding ways to protect their workers," said Serpas. "They will go as far as the local government lets them go."
Act in New York
New York, home to the nation's largest police force, has come into action.
Responding to a question from CNN's Mark Morales on police unions and reform on Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that "every union has the best interests of its employees, its employees" and that it "will listen to all voices", including unions. , while pushing for reforms.
New York lawmakers are moving forward this week with a series of measures to address police misconduct. This includes the repeal of a state law commonly known as 50-A, which prevents the public from seeing the disciplinary records of officers, including those who kill civilians.
Activists said the law made it more difficult to hold abusive police accountable, while police unions said the change could endanger the privacy of police. Cuomo put those concerns aside on Monday, saying the bill includes many privacy protections.
"All it does is cancel an exemption on police records, so now a police officer is like a schoolteacher," said Cuomo. "It's just parity and equality with all the other officials."
The legislation is passed by the Democrat-controlled state legislature, as well as other bills that would establish a new office under the New York Attorney General to investigate police misconduct, and also force agents to turn on their body cameras in specific situations.
The star in this state is not only the New York Police Service's efforts to enforce curfews and maintain order in New York. Last week, two officers from the Buffalo Police Service were charged with assault after allegedly pushing an elderly man during a demonstration.
Following the suspension of the police, the 57 members of the police emergency response team resigned from the team. The local union said it had resigned in solidarity with the two leaders, although some leaders told local media that the union's public statements were not accurate.
"Buffalo police union is on the wrong side of history, they are wrong in this situation, they have been an obstacle to the continuation of the police reform in the city of Buffalo and this obstacle which the union presents of the police must be overcome, "said the mayor of Buffalo. Byron Brown said on CNN on Saturday.
Unions flex their muscles
Although the number of union members has declined nationally, the number of law enforcement personnel remains high. These contributions can be used for litigation, supporting political candidates or lobbying for legislation that may have an impact on the police force. Police unions also say that they are working to get better wages and benefits for officers and that they have a duty to defend their members.
"Police unions have a huge influence," said Jonathan Smith, executive director of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and a former Justice Department official who worked on police matters. "There are a lot of police in this country and the dues accumulate a large war chest that can be used to improve their political program."
Local officials have also benefited from endorsements and donations from police unions, making it less politically acceptable for some officials to attempt to deal with police unions or cases involving individual officers.
In an interview with the New York Times, a Minneapolis city councilor even recently compared the local police union to a "protective racket" that slows services in areas with hostile officials. A spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department declined to comment to the Times on the charge.
To soften their policies, police unions used aggressive and sometimes threatening rhetoric to attack elected officials who were trying to subdue their local police services.
Saint Louis police union chief said last year that the city's chief prosecutor, an African-American woman, should be fired "by force or by choice" because she was sowing seeds distrust of the police. And after an assassination attempt on NYPD officers in February, a major New York police union said its members "declared war" on liberal-minded mayor Bill de Blasio because they accused him of creating a dangerous climate for the police.
In 2016, the Brotherhood Police Order supported the then-candidate Trump. The organization has more than 300,000 members nationwide.
In an interview with The Washington Post last year, Pascos said, "I would say that at least 80% of our members nationwide strongly support President Trump."
Across the country, the actual work of a police union can be far more mundane than it seems right now, when tensions are high after a series of high-profile incidents.
Like other unions, police unions will advocate for better benefits and working conditions for their members, through collective bargaining. When officers face problems, ranging from citizen complaints to criminal charges, the police union will often provide legal representation.
Brian Luciano, president of the Benevolent Police Association in Virginia Beach, Virginia, said police facing charges of misconduct can often be the victim of political considerations and public haste to trial. Police unions will intervene to ensure that officers in difficulty are given the same consideration as a civilian under arrest, said Luciano.
"Municipalities do not always have the best interests of officers at heart. They will do what is convenient for their political ends," said Luciano. "We see our role as protecting the rights of the accused. And in some cases, the accused is the police."
As political winds change, police unions are facing more scrutiny than ever. Some union leaders, such as Edward Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association in New York, say politicians are changing their views on the police for political reasons.
"The elected officials who are now against the police have almost all taken money from the police unions," said Mullins. "They were all in law enforcement until they realized that November was approaching. Now, because the story is anti-police and they become anti-cop, you really have to ask yourself this question. try to make changes now, why did it take riots to get you to do something that should have been done a long time ago? "