The National Police Union has a long memory – and will not be backing Willard M. Romney for President – breaking away from the Republican ticket for the first time in twelve years.

The stories are apocryphal, but true. In Wisconsin, during the height of the protests against Scott Walker’s attack on collective bargaining, the cops who policed the protestors would leave at the end of their shift, go home for dinner and a change of clothes, and come right back to the Capitol grounds to pick up a sign and stand with their union brothers. The police union in Wisconsin had been exempt from the collective bargaining ban, but they saw the writing on the wall.

According to the Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire, the National Police Union’s president, Chuck Canterbury, met with the Republican nominee, Willard M. Romney back in June. In a statement, he said “the real issues in public safety, and the problems that our criminal justice system is facing are not the focus of either campaign.” And while there is no endorsement for President Obama either, the snub of the Republican Party has got to sting. It may hurt all the more, since the 330,000-member Fraternal Order of Police is especially well-represented in three key swing states: Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.