Chicago police officers silent on vaccine face sack

‘I will say anything I need to in order to convince officers to do everything they can to save their lives’

MORE than one quarter of police officers in Chicago face being sacked for refusing to comply with a Covid-19 vaccine mandate as the city’s violent crime rate spirals.

At least 3,000 of the city’s 12,000-strong force have so far declined to reveal their vaccination status.

It comes as the city is reeling from nearly 3,000 shootings and 641 murders this year – a 14 per cent increase over last year.

Joe Biden said on Thursday night that emergency workers who refuse to adhere to current vaccine mandates should be fired.

The Democrat Mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, introduced the mandate requiring all officers in the city to be vaccinated or get tested twice weekly.

But John Catanzara, president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, accused her of “dictatorship” and said “everybody across the board is up in arms about this mandate”.

He said the mandate was “absolutely wrong” and not legal because it had not been negotiated with the union.

More than 4,500 officers did not comply with an initial deadline of Oct 15 to report their vaccination status to the city. At least 20 officers have so far been forced to hand over their badges, and are no longer being paid due to their refusal to comply.

In a video on Facebook this week a union official urged officers to keep resisting the “tyrannical” mandate.

The official said: “Good morning everybody, welcome to day three of the Hunger Games where we find out who the city is going to offer up as tribute.”

David Brown, Chicago’s police chief, said: “This virus is no different than the gunfire we take as cops.

“I will do everything I can and I will say anything I need to in order to convince officers to do everything they can to save their lives.”

Mr Brown said that, by Wednesday, 68 per cent of police employees had complied.

The police union put the number of those holding out at about 3,200.

Mr Catanzara said: “If they refuse it sounds like they’re going to go into a no pay status. Our moniker all week has been hold the line.”

Ms Lightfoot, the mayor, said the mandate was about “creating the safest workplace possible” and defying it was “not acceptable”.