Chicago Police Officers Won’t Be Sent Home Over Vaccine Status — Yet

“No one is going to be turned away,” stated police department spokesman Tom Ahern. “Officers shall be working their regular shifts this weekend (and) they wont be turned away or sent home… Officers will continue coming to work till they’re instructed otherwise (and) that they’re not on pay status.”

Ahern’s comments follow a video posted on the police officers’ union website this week wherein the union president urged members to not report their vaccination status by Friday, the deadline that Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration set for city employees, and urged such a refusal may end in them being sent home.

Those that don’t submit their vaccination standing will likely be placed on unpaid leave.

Lightfoot mentioned officers who’re expected to work over the weekend should show up, and that those that don’t report their vaccination status will likely be moved to no-pay status. However she additionally mentioned that such a move won’t occur this weekend because confirming compliance will take a couple of days.

“My expectation is that individuals who swore an oath to serve and protect the city are going to honor that oath and they’re going to show up, they’re going to report for duty, and they’re going to comply with a legal directive from the city and an order from the police department,” Lightfoot informed reporters Thursday. “Anything less would be insubordination.”

The dispute and the possibility that the department could be understaffed come at a fraught time for the city, which has seen a surge in the number of carjackings and expressway shootings and more homicides so far this year than have been recorded at the same time last year.

First responders nationwide have been hit hard by the virus however some have been resisting vaccine mandates. More than 460 law enforcement officers have died of COVID-19, including 4 members of the Chicago Police Department, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.

Los Angeles police and county sheriff, and Seattle and Denver police are among the departments either under vaccine mandates or facing one.

On Thursday afternoon, top police officials in Chicago assured the general public that the department would be fully staffed over the weekend. However in addition they made it clear that officers who refuse to comply with the city’s mandate risk being disciplined or fired.

First Deputy Police Superintendent Eric Carter stated officers will likely be expected to meet Friday’s deadline unless they have an approved medical or religious exemption. Under the city’s rules, those that aren’t vaccinated by Friday must get tested twice per week on their own time and expense till the end of the year, when they are going to be required to be vaccinated.

In the video that Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara posted Tuesday, he stated that if officers had been turned away, the city would have a police force “at 50% or less for this weekend coming up.”

He additionally instructed officers to file for exemptions to receiving vaccines but to not enter that info into the city’s portal, telling the rank-and-file, “I don’t believe the city has the authority to mandate that to anyone, not to mention that information about your medical history.” He didn’t reply to a request for remark Thursday.

City officials have stated there isn’t a requirement to enter detailed medical info — only vaccination status and proof of vaccination.

The city has a similar COVID-19 vaccine requirement for employees of city schools, which the Chicago Teachers Union supported.

A city database showed almost 90% of teachers, administrators and other school employees have already been vaccinated. Fewer than 1% acquired a medical exemption and 3.5% had a religious exemption.

City officials stated those that didn’t comply by the Friday vaccination deadline wouldn’t be barred from work, however must undergo weekly testing till they received the shots. Those that don’t get vaccinated or consent to weekly testing would be ineligible to work for the nation’s third-largest school district and won’t be paid.