For two decades, the Phoenix police union has had a secret deal with the police department that required that the disciplinary records of cops would be “purged,” so that no one, not even their supervisors, would be able to retrieve them.

As a result, Phoenix cops who repeatedly committed violent, corrupt acts — including acts that resulted in severe injuries — were allowed to serve on the force, even collecting commendations for their “good behavior.”

The Arizona Republic undertook a deep investigation into the practice and uncovered more than 600 acts of wrongdoing committed by 525 cops (out of 3,000 PD employees) in just the past five years, with 90% of all “serious misconduct” incidents being purges from cops’ records.

And as bad as this policy is, the Republic revealed that it was routinely abused, allowing cops to purge their records more quickly, and for graver offenses, than were officially permitted.

I really don’t think that the people who negotiate these sorts of deals with police unions understand just how corrosive these are to society.

It makes the departments a Petri dish for bad and abusive cops.