Seattle, Washington, a city already ravaged by the “Defund the Police” movement, could lose at least 200 more officers over the city’s Chinese coronavirus vaccine mandate.
The officers face termination “because they’ve either not received the jab or would refuse to hand over their private medical data,” according to a report cited by Fox News on Tuesday.
“The Jason Rantz Show on the city’s KTTH said the number represents about 20 percent of the department’s deployable staff. The department and Mayor Jenny A. Durkan’s office did not immediately respond to after-hour emails from Fox News,” the report states.
According to the KTTH report, the Seattle Police Department [SPD] has already lost approximately 300 officers since last year’s push to defund the police — SPD is now staffed at “record lows not seen since the 1980s.”
“Many times, there are only about 70 officers patrolling the city on any given night. This has helped lead to a surge in violent crime with the city on pace to break the 26-year-high homicide rate set in 2020. With just over 1,000 deployable officers, the city is about 300-500 officers shy of where they hope to be,” it continued.
SEATTLE, WA – APRIL 12: (EDITORS NOTE: Image contains profanity) Police patrol by bicycle during a march to protest the death of Daunte Wright on April 12, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. Wright, a Black man whose car was stopped in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota on Sunday reportedly for an expired registration, and not far from where George Floyd was killed during an arrest in Minneapolis last May, was shot and killed by an officer who police say mistook her service revolver for a Taser. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
City workers will reportedly be required to get vaccinated against the coronavirus by October 18 or they could face termination.
“The City of Seattle now says full vaccination against COVID is a condition of employment, regardless of one’s age, risk factors, or prior infection. Religious and medical exemptions are offered, but it’s unclear if the city will accommodate the requests,” according to the report.
A spokesperson for Mayor Durkan told Crosscut in August she is “hopeful that terminations will not be necessary and all unvaccinated employees choose to get vaccinated.”
The city and the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild have been negotiating the terms of the vaccine mandate, the report said. President of the union Mike Solan said on a podcast in August that the mandate could cause police officers to lose their jobs.
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