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Politicians tempted to cross police unions have long feared being labeled soft on crime by the unions, or more serious consequences.
长期以来，试图越过警察工会的政客一直惧怕被工会贴上姑息养奸的标签，甚至还有比这更为严重的后果，
When Steve Fletcher, a Minneapolis city councilman and frequent Police Department critic,
经常针对当地警察局发表批判言论的明尼阿波利斯市议员史蒂夫·弗莱彻
sought to divert money away from hiring officers and toward a newly created office of violence prevention,
试图转移招聘警官的资金，用于建设新成立的防暴办公室，
he said, the police stopped responding as quickly to 911 calls placed by his constituents.
那以后，他表示，警方接到他的选民拨打的报警电话就会放慢响应速度。
"It operates a little like a protection racket," Mr. Fletcher said of the union.
“那种作派，就跟收保护费（的黑社会）一样，”弗莱彻在谈及警察工会时说道。
A spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department said he was unable to comment.
明尼阿波利斯警察局的一名发言人表示，对此他无法置评。
A few days after prosecutors in Minneapolis charged an officer with murder in the death of George Floyd,
明尼阿波利斯检察官指控一名警官谋杀乔治·弗洛伊德的几天后，
the president of the city's police union denounced political leaders,
该市警察工会主席发出了谴责政治领袖的言论，
accusing them of selling out his members and firing four officers without due process.
指责他们出卖他的会员以及未经正当程序解雇四名警官。
"It is despicable behavior," the union president, Lt. Bob Kroll, wrote in a letter to union members obtained by a local reporter.
“太卑鄙了，”当地记者获取到的，工会主席鲍勃·克罗尔中尉致工会成员的信中写道。
He also referred to protesters as a "terrorist movement."
他对抗议群众的称呼也是“恐怖主义行为”。
Mr. Kroll, who is himself the subject of at least 29 complaints,
克罗尔本人就曾前后受到过至少29起投诉，
has also chided the Obama administration for its "oppression of police,"
他曾指责奥巴马政府“压迫警察”，
and praised President Trump as someone who "put the handcuffs on the criminals instead of us."
称赞特朗普总统是“将罪犯而不是我们绳之以法”的人。
In other instances, unions have not resisted reforms outright, but have made them difficult to put in place.
其他时候，工会没有直接抵制改革，而是选择了阻挠改革落地。
Federal intervention is often one of the few reliable ways of reforming police departments.
有效改革警察部门的办法寥寥无几，联邦干预算是其中之一。
But in Cleveland, the union helped slow the adoption of reforms mandated by a federal consent decree,
克利夫兰工会就加入了拖延采纳联邦核准令强制要求的改革政策的队伍，
according to Jonathan Smith, a former U.S. Justice Department official
据曾负责监督政府对克利夫兰警察公务行为的调查的，
who oversaw the government's investigation of policing practices there.
美国司法部前官员乔纳森·史密斯透露。
Mr. Smith said union officials had signaled to rank-and-file officers that the changes should not be taken seriously,
史密斯称，工会领导曾致意普通警官，那些变动，
such as a requirement that they report and investigate instances in which they pointed a gun.
比如要求他们举枪时要报告、要调查的要求他们都无需当真。
"I heard this in lots of departments," Mr. Smith said.
“这话我在很多部门都听过，”史密斯说。
"‘Wait it out. Do the minimum you have to do.'"
“‘就跟它耗，能不劳神就不劳神。’”
He said he believed that the reforms have since taken hold.
他说，他相信，改革就是从那时候扎根的。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
