A police strike is a potential tactic when law enforcement workers are embroiled in a labour dispute. They are somewhat rare because police are usually treated better than other public sector workers. Sometimes military personnel are called in to keep order or discipline the strikers. Police strikes have the potential to cause civil unrest.
Contents
List of police strikes
Waukegan, Illinois 1970, Lake County Sheriffs Police Illinois 1970, Skokie Police, Illinois 1970, Wheeling Police Illinois 1970 - led by John J Flood, Cook County Police Association ( CCPA ) Skokie, Illinois 1975 led by John J Flood Maywood Police Department, led by John J Flood
Legality
In many jurisdictions, it is illegal for police to strike because of the potential instability and public insecurity that can result.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom Police officers are currently banned from taking strike action under the Police Act 1996. The police have been banned from striking since 1919, when the Police Act was first established. The Police Federation of England and Wales balloted members in 2013 for the right to strike but failed to gain enough signatures to change the law.
Causes
One cause for police strikes has been increases in the difficulty of policing itself. The wave of American police strikes in the late 1960s and 1970s accompanied other forms of social unrest—which themselves put pressure on police forces. Also, police wages, which had historically been exceptional, declined relative to the wages of other workers. Police strikes have also occurred in situations where national control was in question and the police's alignment differed from the current rulers (i.e. in occupied France and India).