As a former prosecutor, I have a genuine and long-standing concern for the safety of our police on the job. The Law Enforcement Officers and other personnel who make up our police forces deserve every effort by society to ensure their safety while doing a frequently quite dangerous, even lethal, job.
That is why I am disgusted and outraged by the behavior of our police unions during this COVID pandemic. Major Arizona police unions across the country, including Phoenix and Tucson, have resisted mandates of COVID vaccination for police personnel, even going to court to oppose mandatory vaccination. This is not just a betrayal of the public’s safety, but the safety of their own members, as well.
The leading cause of mortality among active-duty officers last year was not on-the-job violence – not heart disease – not suicide – not cancer – nor accident: it was COVID– by a mile: 3/4ths of police deaths in 2021 were caused by COVID.
For the police unions to resist vaccine mandates is a direct betrayal of their members’ lives and safety. The refusal to embrace mandatory vaccination as a vital part of officer safety by union leadership has contributed greatly to 2021 being the deadliest year for police in modern American history. Worse, the reason for this betrayal is solely and blatantly related to the political affiliations of police union leadership and has absolutely nothing to do with keeping their members safe in the workplace. Indeed, the police unions are pushing pseudo-science and conspiracy theories that directly damage both police members’ – and the public’s – safety and health.
The vast majority of Law Enforcement Officers value the lives of their fellow officers and those of the public they are sworn to protect, and are conscientiously dedicated to public safety and health. That majority should harshly repudiate and immediately replace their current reckless, feckless, and performatively political leadership with leaders who demonstrate they value police lives and safety over political and culture war nonsense.
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I hate that desecration of the American flag. It has nothing to do with duty, honor or courage, and everything to do with their assertion that THEY are the ones to determine our rights to exist in this country…it literally divides us in half.
I don’t disagree with your view of that flag, Bruce. But I wanted to signal very clearly that my view in this post is pro-police and the police unions are acting contrary to the interests of police officers.
Michael, you’re right being pro-police & about police unions but it must be said that when good upstanding cops cover for the bad ones then those good upstanding cops have tarnished themselves & their departments.