Police unions don't prevent police from being held accountable. They don't have that authority. Police unions are another problem, and an important one, but we need the state to press charges and judges to sentence police who commit crimes at least as harshly as they would the rest of us. No union has the power to take a bad cop out of prison. The police didn't get this way on their own, so it's important that we aren't ignoring what's enabled them to continue like this and start holding everyone involved accountable.