&gt; rosecutors and especially judges, always slow to change when change makes their jobs harder, will take longer to get used to the notion that wink-and-nod isn&#x27;t going to work any more. Police unions are going to lose this fight, especially as activists are starting to become savvy to the tactical advantage of splitting Republicans between law and order fears and union busters.<p>I&#x27;m optimistic. State budgets are such a mess that the police unions are going to get hit hard from both sides. Young families on one hand, when police pensions start cutting into education, and fiscal conservatives on the other, who will relish the opportunity to take out public unions. The Illinois that rises out of the ashes of bankruptcy might look a lot better.