Not so. Anything which impacts wages, working conditions, or discipline in any way (including discipline of supervisors, who may be in the bargaining unit) is subject to bargaining with the union. Let me give you an example from one of my cases, where we represented the union which represented both DAs and PDs in San Bernardino County.
The County sued the union for sending DA's to represent PDs in disciplinary proceedings, when they could be reviewing cases in which they were on opposite sides. This was an ethical violation the County said, and not a matter for bargaining. The court said otherwise. Not only was their case thrown out, but they had to pay our fees. (See link to the decision below).
Those were just mere attorneys in that case. Police have much stronger unions, who are more aggressive in asserting themselves into any proceeding involving their members. The Correctional Officers union, for example, takes out ads in the local community when one of their members are the subject of a civil or criminal trial, in order to influence the jury. The courts say this is OK. In MN, CA, and many other states, it is illegal to file a "false" claim against the police - you can be sued or put in jail for complaining. And guess who determines whether the claim is "false?"
Most powerful are the police union PACs. Here in CA, you would think that a Democratic super-majority and the events of the last year would allow for some real reform. I and many other tried, but all we got were a few token changes. The fact that the police PACs did not seriously oppose those bills in itself tells you that they would not do anything.
The biggest barrier to the real changes you seek is the police unions and their PACs. This will not be easy.
