By Michael Letts
The largest police union in New York City asked a judge to allow unvaccinated police officers to continue working to block the city from imposing its vaccine mandate that went into effect November 1.
The mandate requires all municipal workers to have received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose by the start of November 2021.
In the lawsuit filed in Staten Island the Police Benevolent Association of New York wrote that it opposes the vaccine mandate for police officers because it does not allow the option of being tested weekly instead of taking the shot.
Staten Island is home to many police officers and has a vaccination rate that lags behind the citywide average.
In a city with significant crime problems, New York officials seem to be determined to make things worse.
The New York City Police force is already understaffed.
Men and women who had served their city are tired of being made the targets by the very people they served and protected.
As a result, many police officers retired, found other work, or chose the temporary solution of calling in sick. (You might be sick too if it happened to you.)
Now, the Police Benevolent Association, which represents 24,000 officers in New York City, has sued to block the mandate.
“The city has provided no explanation, much less a rational one, for the need to violate the autonomy and privacy of NYPD police officers in such a severe manner, on the threat of termination,” the association wrote in its petition.
And, quickly, the New York Supreme Court ruled against the police.
The decision, in fact, creates a crisis for New York City for no apparent reason, according to PBA President Patrick J. Lynch.
“This not only violates police officers’ rights — it will inevitably result in fewer cops available to protect our city,” Lynch told the New York Times.
Unfortunately, in the meantime, the NYPD has no viable plan to address the staffing shortage and the huge mess the vaccine mandate has created. One estimate projected police ranks dropping by nearly 28%. Between abrupt lay-offs, retirement, calling in sick.
Did they really believe the police would cave to the threat of losing their jobs and get vaccinated? If so they simply are not paying attention to the massive backlash against vaccine mandates?
And meanwhile, as Mayor de Blasio goes forward with his vaccine mandate, he is crippling vital services for his city.
Let’s take a look at what is already happening with New York City firefighters.
A third of city firefighters took either unpaid leave or sick leave beginning November 1, causing dozens of fire companies to close due to having insufficient staff.
And in fact, police unions nationwide are urging members to resist Covid vaccine mandates. In New York City the police union argues that the city did not give officers enough time to seek religious exemptions.
Such officers are required to apply by November 3 to avoid being placed on leave without pay. That’s not enough time.
Over the past decade, the New City Police Department made some headway against fighting violent crime in the city. Crime rates were falling.
That will all go out the window if the city doesn’t support its police officers.
Response times will increase, which also means that patrol times will decrease. Fewer officers on the street
We entrust police with our lives and safety. Doesn’t it then follow that they will be just as careful with their own lives?
If a police officer or anyone else chooses to be vaccinated against COVID-19, that is their prerogative. It is a choice that needs to be made between them and their doctor. It is not a decision the government should decide for them.
The ferocity of the government’s response to this is surprising. Rather than use the carrot approach and convince people of the efficacy and benefit of the vaccine, officials jumped right into using a stick more like a Louisville Slugger to force the ‘simpleton great unwashed masses’ into submission. To what end? They are creating a backlash among employees and public service workers.
As of last week, only 70 percent of employees of the New York Police Department had received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the Times.
The police union (or PBA) represents rank-and-file officers and has been mostly supportive of an earlier policy that had allowed unvaccinated officers to test weekly for the virus.
And the lawsuit argues that the test-or-vax rule was effective in protecting public safety.
The lawsuit was in fact filed on the same day that a huge crowd of people – many of them police, fire and garbage workers – marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to New York City Hall carrying American flags and chanting “We will not comply.”
People’s livelihoods are being stripped away from them, further adding to America’s worker shortage while endangering the lives of the citizens by taking police off the streets. Our elected leaders took an oath to serve and protect the people who entrusted them to hold office. Instead of firing our defenders, it’s high time we protect those who protect us.
Michael A Letts is the CEO and Founder of In-VestUSA, a national grassroots non-profit organization helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bulletproof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs.
CONTACT: Jerry McGlothlin for Michael Letts 919-437-0001 jerry@specialguests.com or Tamara Colbert at tamara@ohsweetliberty.com.
