The mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, faces heavy criticism for requesting help from suburban police to fill in for the cops she might fire.
The National Fraternal Order of Police released a scathing statement to Lightfoot’s ridiculous request and vowed not to honor it. In light of this, it seems the people of Chicago will not have enough officers on the street to help them when the need arises.
The Backstory
The deadline of the COVID vaccine mandate for officers in Chicago is near. While some officers have taken their jabs and submitted documents showing their vaccination status, some of them haven’t.
Meanwhile, Chicago police officials have threatened to discipline or fire any officer who doesn’t comply with the mandate. According to Chicago’s online portal, 21% of the police force in the city haven’t presented their vaccination status.
There’s a possibility this number of police officers won’t present their vaccines by the Friday deadline.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday said the police union president was trying to "induce an insurrection" by telling officers to ignore a deadline to report their vaccine status. Funny, I thought police officers were supposed to obey the law. https://t.co/olPtFdnaIu
— Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@joncoopertweets) October 16, 2021
The crime rate in Chicago has been surging to unprecedented heights. This is majorly due to the police force having a shortage of officers. With this in mind, the Chicago Police Department still wants to force the vaccine mandate, which will lead to more shortages in the police force.
To fill the void the fired police will create, the Chicago mayor has called on police officers in Illinois to help cover for the officers in the city. According to Chicago’s WGN-TV, a coordinator from the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS) emailed 12 police officials in Illinois.
The emails are requesting them to ask their special units if they could respond to challenging situations in Chicago. The email also asked what the response time of these units would be.
Response From the National Fraternal Order of Police
The National Fraternal Order of Police was not amused by Chicago’s request for help from officers in the suburbs.
The organization said the looming security crisis in Chicago and its effect on public safety in the city has been created and unnecessarily worsened by Mayor Lightfoot. FOP added the mayor is looking for ways to get out of the situation, while insisting contingency plans exist.
The devolving situation in Chicago and the very real threat to public safety in the city has been entirely manufactured and unnecessarily escalated by @chicagosmayor. Now she is searching for a way out of this mess and insists that “contingency plans” are in place. #LightfootDuty pic.twitter.com/IROWHMazul
— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) October 20, 2021
The National FOP said the mayor’s call for help from the ILEAS had been met with rejection by at least two agencies. It noted the agency is only designed to respond to emergency cases that might overwhelm responding agencies.
Besides, the National Fraternal Order of Police said the system is strictly for emergencies, not for cases where a mayor fires many of her police officers.
In addition, the organization said some of the police officers do not want to get the vaccine because of reasons best known to them. In light of this, it can’t support a vaccine mandate on members against their will without regard for their rights or providing them with due process.
National FOP Accuses the Mayor of Playing Politics With the Safety of Citizens
The National Fraternal Order of Police ended the statement by accusing Mayor Lightfoot of playing political games. It said Lightfoot thinks putting the citizens of Chicago at risk is acceptable in the game she is playing.
The FOP pointed out the mayor counted on the ILEAS to respond to situations the Chicago police could not. It added there’s a possibility Lightfoot wants the help to also come from unvaccinated officers.
The organization noted it is ridiculous for the mayor to suspend unvaccinated police officers in Chicago, while replacing them with unvaccinated police officers from other jurisdictions.
