First, it would be interesting to know how much money the average police officer's union has for settlements, and how much settlements tend to be. I'm guessing

First, it would be interesting to know how much money the average police officer's union has for settlements, and how much settlements tend to be. I'm guessing not every union has a $50B pension fund, so the impact may be larger elsewhere. Second, it would be interesting to know if money from the pension fund can be used to pay settlements. Until you said something here I had assumed that paying for settlements would come from the union's annual budget, and not from a pension fund which had been funded earlier (but I could be wrong). Regardless - I think the idea of aligning the incentives of the officers themselves (through their union) and the citizens who are being policed is a good idea.