Police Officers in Major Cities Across America are Leading the Revolt Against Vaccine Mandates

By Ben Cope - October 17, 2021

Police officers in major cities across the United States are standing up to unlawful orders that force them to be vaccinated for Covid-19 or face termination. In Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego and Baltimore, the police are sending the message that these vaccine mandates are unlawful, and they are not going to obey them or enforce them. In Chicago, a standoff is brewing between the city government and the police in one of the nation’s deadliest cities for violent crime. In the Windy City, the head of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police, John Catanzara, has called on his fellow officers to defy the ‘improper directive’ to get vaccinated being imposed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

On Friday, Mayor Lightfoot announced the city was filing a lawsuit against the Fraternal Order of Police and Catanzara, alleging he sought “to induce an insurrection” by encouraging officers not to disclose their vaccination status. Employees who had failed to comply by the vaccine directive by the October 15 deadline were to be put on no-pay status.

Catanzara made it clear that the vaccine mandate was improper and warned that police staffing could be reduced by half over the weekend if the city followed through with it. As many as 6,500 Chicago police officers could be placed on unpaid leave due to the directive, the Daily Mail noted.

“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.

The city argued in its complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court that this was “a clear instruction and command to engage in an unlawful strike.” The Fraternal Order of Police subsequently countersued, arguing that the city did not properly negotiate with the union over the vaccine mandate. If police officers choose not to be vaccinated for Covid-19, they will be subject to twice weekly testing requirements.

Mayor Lightfoot, in typical blunt fashion, dismissed the police union president’s concerns outright and urged people to obey 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.”

In the meantime, a judge has ordered Catanzara to stop encouraging police officers to obey the unlawful vaccine mandates. The temporary restraining order, which bars him from making statement that discourage members from reporting their COVID-19 vaccine status to the city, was reported by the Chicago Tribune.

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Poster Comment:

I grew up with a guy who was a Chicago cop for 18 years until he retired. I am thinking that was long enough to be on the mean streets of Chicago.