In major American cities, police officers are resisting orders to vaccinate citizens for Covid-19. The police in Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Seattle are expressing concern that the vaccine mandates they have been given are illegal and will not be obeyed or enforced.
A standoff is developing between Chicago’s city government and police. Chicago is one of the most violent cities in the country. John Catanzara is the head of Chicago’s Fraternal Ord of Police and has called for his fellow officers to resist the Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s ‘improper directive to get vaccinated’.
Mayor Lightfoot announced Friday that the city would file a lawsuit against Catanzara and the Fraternal Order of Police. He claimed he wanted to “incite an insurrection” through encouraging officers not to disclose their vaccination status. Employees who failed to adhere to the vaccination directive by October 15 were placed on no-pay status.
Catanzara stated that the mandate for vaccines was not appropriate and suggested that the city could reduce police staffing by half if it followed through. According to the Daily Mail, Chicago officers could be put on unpaid leave for the directive.
“I do not believe the city has the authority to mandate that to anybody, let alone that information about your medical history,” Catanzara argued in a video reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s safe to say that the city of Chicago will have a police force at 50% or less for this weekend coming up,” he added.
In its complaint to Cook County Circuit Court, the city claimed that this was “a clear directive and command to engage an unlawful strike.” However, the Fraternal Order of Police countersued. They claimed that the city failed to properly negotiate with the union regarding the mandate for vaccines. Police officers who refuse to get vaccinated against Covid-19 will have to submit to two weekly testing.
Mayor Lightfoot dismissed the concerns of the president of the police union in a typical blunt manner and asked people to follow the directive.
“What we’re focused on is making sure that we maximize the opportunity to create a very safe workplace,” Lightfoot argued. “The data is very clear. It is unfortunate that the FOP leadership has chosen to put out a counter-narrative. But the fact of the matter is, if you are not vaccinated, you are playing with your life, the life of your family, the life of your colleagues and members of the public.”
Catanzara was ordered by a judge to stop encouraging officers to comply with the illegal vaccine mandates. The Chicago Tribune reported that Catanzara was prohibited from giving statements to discourage others from reporting their COVID-19 vaccination status to the city.
Baltimore’s police union advises its officers to not disclose their vaccination status until more information is available about the city’s vaccine mandate. Hill reported.
“It is understandable that our members have questions about a policy with so little information being provided by the city,” Sgt. Mike Mancuso, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said in a letter to his union members. “Until the city responds to our right to bargain these issues, or the courts intervene, I suggest you do nothing in regard to revealing your vaccination status as it is outlined in the city’s policy.”
The police chief of Seattle has sent a letter to his officers asking them to continue with the mandated vaccine. Jason Rantz reported the letter.
“I am going to tell you – I do not want to lose any of you. In the past almost two years, we have lost too many,” Chief of Police Adrian Diaz argued.
Alex Villanueva of Los Angeles County, the country’s largest sheriff’s office with over 18,000 employees has stated that he does not intend to enforce the vaccine mandate for the county.
“The mandate was issued by executive order in August and allows only for religious and medical exemptions,” NPR reported. “Villanueva said his employees are willing to be terminated rather than get vaccinated.”
“I don’t want to be in a position to lose 5, 10% of my workforce overnight on a vaccine mandate,” the sheriff said.
Even in cities that do not have police unions standing up for their officers, there are murmurings behind the scenes which indicate that relations are boiling over. Jack Schaeffer, the union president, is not giving the support to the ‘hundreds of’ San Diego police officers who are opposed to the illegal mandate. According to Net Breaking , the officers plan to strike at 3:30PM on October 22nd outside San Diego City Hall. In Raleigh, North Carolina, firefighters and police officers are threatening to sue for violating the vaccine mandate.
Although New York City has yet to issue a mandate for vaccines for the NYPD police, socialist Mayor De Blasio said that he was exploring all options.
“We’re looking at all options,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Brian Lehrer’s WNYC radio show.
“In the coming days I’ll speak about additional steps for different parts of the city, our workforce and beyond, different things we’re going to be looking at, different things we’re going to be doing,” de Blasio added. “But that’s still several days away because we’re doing a very meticulous analysis of what is the next step that makes sense.”
“De Blasio has floated a potential vaccine mandate for the NYPD, the nation’s largest police department, for several weeks, the AP reported. “The department’s vaccination rate has lagged behind the rest of the city, with some officers flat out refusing to get the shots.”
The most concerning aspect of the collapse in police-city relationship is that it might not be seen as an “unfortunate side effect” of illegal vaccine mandates by Democratic Party leaders who supported Defunding the Police. The Democratic Party appears to have extended its plan to expel the police, military and other Americans willing to defend the rights of Americans against tyranny. The new agenda does not include Defunding the Police. It also includes Purge the Police.
