and.....

Just so everyone knows, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents law enforcement officers. This is not new, just not very well known. The Teamsters will agressively represent it's members. Teamsters Local 385, http://www.local385.org has represented police officers and deputy sheriff's for well over ten years. Local 385 employs active and retired law enforcement officers as business agents to better represent it's members. These business agents have considerable experience in representing officers/deputies in internal affairs investigations and the disciplinary process. If your agency is not represented, or you are considering making a change, please contact the Teamsters. Teamsters has a hundred year history of representing members to improve wages, hours, and working conditions, no other union can say that.

does any department in East TN have this?

No no dept has this, because this is a Right to Work state. How many Unions do you see anywhere around here? It just does not happen. It would be nice to have someone standing at your back like that. But it wont ever happen here as long as the State of TN is a Right to work State.

No no dept has this, because this is a Right to Work state. How many Unions do you see anywhere around here? It just does not happen. It would be nice to have someone standing at your back like that. But it wont ever happen here as long as the State of TN is a Right to work State.

Sorry genious but you are incorrect. It is going to happen and sooner than you think too. You need to pay a little closer attention. You need to check your facts on the right to work thing and understand also that right to work (or not) has nothing at all to do with union representation.

your right, being a right to work state doesnt stop a union from coming in, but what it does stop. unlike other states that are NOT right to work, states that are not right to work states, when a union calls a strike, the place that has the employees cannot hire or replace the employees.
IN this state. they can. And you can bet, if theres a union and you strike, the county commision will replace every single officer with an outside officer.
Its why unions work in places like VA or WVA , and not here. You can have a Union, but it has little to no power.

your right, being a right to work state doesnt stop a union from coming in, but what it does stop. unlike other states that are NOT right to work, states that are not right to work states, when a union calls a strike, the place that has the employees cannot hire or replace the employees.
IN this state. they can. And you can bet, if theres a union and you strike, the county commision will replace every single officer with an outside officer.
Its why unions work in places like VA or WVA , and not here. You can have a Union, but it has little to no power.

You obviously have little or no idea what you are talking about. You dont know which states are and which states are not Right to Work States. I am enclosing a link here for you so that maybe you can read up and respond with a little knowledge in the future. For example look at VA and WVA. http://www.nrtw.org/rtws.htm

Having said that, right to work state or not right to work has nothing to do with the effectiveness of a union. Unions are not all about stikes which shows you have no experience with unions.

Challenge
Name a police or sheriffs department in this country that has gone on strike in the last 25 or 30 years.

Challenge
Explain to all of us just exactly how the county comission would replace anyone at the sheriffs office. They have NO authority to that. But, in the event that they did have the authority to do such a thing (in your world) where exactly would they find these people to put in these jobs? If this could be done I would be fine with it. Cops should never be allowed to strike.

Challenge
Please list each and every state (U.S. state) with strong police unions that also allow police to strike. Hint. Each state with strong police unions and collective bargaining power has a law against police officers striking, it just doesnt happen.

Police Unions are not about strikes and never have been. they are about brother and sister officers sticking together for common goals. These unions are normally formed by officers who are tired of getting screwed by politicians who think they can bully the cops into doing anything. Unions are about establishing things like rules for how raises are done, how transfers and promotions are done and a host of other things. Unions prevent the "rules" from changing during the game. Unions and contracts make both sides sit down and agree to how things will operate and then gives both sides the ability to take action when one or the other does the wrong thing.

Unions with proper representaion (ie. FOP or PBA) are not dirty words and exist to make the working conditions better and keep the good ol boys from arbitrarily deciding your fate on a whim, a bad haircut or on "I just dont like you anymore for whatever the reason may be.

Police unions exist basically to keep department heads and politicians from screwing with officers whenever they want to.

One more thing about unions or more specifically "collective bargaining". The state of Tennessee does not allow collective bargaining for police and firefighters. Why? Because of an opinion rendered by the State Attorney General. When? In 1957. Yes, 1957. Collective bargaining is and has been allowed all along for transit workers and teachers in Tennessee. My guess is that the State Attorney General at that time had not yet reached or read the part of the US constitution that requires equal protection under the law.