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Seattle, a city of over 750,000 people, has about 1,000 police officers to protect them. Police numbers have declined since George Floyd’s protests in the summer of 2020 and now the department faces a whole new staff hurdle during the pandemic.
The Seattle Police Department has already seen 124 “separations” until August of this year, according to their spokesperson. Now the department is bracing for massive layoffs of officers, as hundreds of them have yet to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination. The vaccination deadline, announced by Washington Governor Jay Inslee in early August, is October 18.
THOUSANDS OF PROTESTS AGAINST WASHINGTON STATE’S VACCINE MANDATE SINGING THE NATIONAL HUMAN
As of Wednesday, 292 sworn staff members had yet to provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccination. That number is down from 354 on Tuesday.
To add another layer of concern, a spokesperson for the Seattle PD, Sgt. Randy Huserik has confirmed that there are 111 additional officers awaiting the results of the exemption requests. These 111 are not counted in the figure of 292 – meaning that if their accommodation is refused, the actual number of unvaccinated officers could reach 403.
Seattle Police Department Graphic
Seattle Police have already lost more than 300 officers since the height of the funding debate in 2020 – bringing the number of deployable people to 1,043, according to FOX 13 Seattle.
In the spring, the Seattle Police Department described being in a “staffing crisis” after 66 officers left their jobs in April 2021.
WASHINGTON STATE UW MEDICINE SAYS IT WILL DELETE UNVACCINATED PATIENTS FROM ORGAN TRANSPLANT WAITING LIST
“We value each of you and don’t want to lose you as employees,” Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan told city staff in an email on Monday. “But the people who depend on you the most are the ones who need you to get the vaccine.”
Durkan was evasive about whether she would really fire unvaccinated agents in an era of low numbers and longer 911 response times.
In anticipation of the October 18 deadline, Acting Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz advised his service to move to a “phase 3 mobilization,” effective October 13.
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Fox News has contacted Seattle Police and Mayor Durkan’s office for comment, but has not had a response at the time of this article’s publication.
Local Seattle radio host Jason Rantz covered departures from The Jason Rantz Show.
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