CHICAGO (LifeSiteNews) — 21 Chicago police officers have been placed on “no pay status” after refusing to disclose whether they have received an experimental COVID shot, department Superintendent David Brown said at a Tuesday press conference.
Chicago’s Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a citywide vaccine reporting mandate for all public sector workers on August 25, requiring all city employees and volunteers to submit their COVID jab status before October 15.
Lightfoot has taken a hardline stance, placing any city employees who refuse to enter their details into the system onto unpaid leave. The order also forces un-jabbed individuals who have submitted their status to agree to weekly testing for the virus, or also face being placed on unpaid leave.
Superintendent Brown defended Lightfoot’s order in his Tuesday briefing, saying that the virus, which has a survival rate of over 99.5 percent for people under 60 years old, is “no different than the gunfire we take as cops” and that to refuse the jab goes “against our oath” to protect the public.
Brown noted that, as things stand, 67.69 percent of the city’s 12,770 police department employees have uploaded their status into the online portal which documents COVID jab uptake, the lowest compliance rate within any Chicago city department. The police are followed by the fire brigade, of which around 28 percent of employees have not yet followed Lightfoot’s command.
82 percent of police officers who have notified the government of their jab status have taken a full regimen of the shots, with the 12 percent who have not now being made subject to weekly testing until at least the end of the year.
After blasting the officers who did not comply with Lightfoot’s requirement to disclose their vaccination status as having violated direct orders, Brown vowed to do and say whatever might be necessary “in order to convince officers to do everything they can to save their lives, the lives of their families, the lives of their other officers, and the lives of people we are sworn to protect in this community.”
Brown revealed that “several hundred” officers who refused the order have been advised in one-to-one counselling sessions that they must comply or face disciplinary action.
Officers were put through three phases, Brown said: First being told directly what the “vaccine” requirement entailed; Then, if they still refused, being forced to enter into no-pay status; Finally receiving a direct order to put their details into the vaccine portal from the bureau of internal affairs. 21 officers have so far refused to comply and were therefore placed on “no pay status” after their meetings.
“We have given them the time and given them the explanation as best we can on the serious nature of violating the vaccine mandate,” Brown added.
An internal memo from Sunday noted that continued refusal could “result in a penalty up to and including separation from the Chicago Police Department” and that “sworn members of the department who retire while under an investigation may be denied retirement credentials.”
On October 12, president of the Chicago police officer’s union (Fraternal Order of Police) John Catanzara released a video statement in which he urged members not to comply with the vaccine reporting mandate.
“Do not fill out the portal information,” Catanzara told union members, or “subject to testing thereafter.”
“Once you do that, we can never get that information back,” the union president continued. “We have no assurances from the city that that is secure,” or “who it can be shared with.”
“I can guarantee you that no-pay status will not last more than 30 days,” said Catanzara in the video. “There’s no way they’re going to be able to sustain a police department workforce at 50% capacity or less for more than seven days without something budging.”
“Hold the line,” urged Catanzara, encouraging members that, with a large enough proportion of the workforce pushing back, the city will be forced to back down. “The simple fact that they keep putting out public statements, emails, and having bosses call you means one thing: Our members are holding the line.”
LifeSiteNews reached out to the Chicago Police Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response.