Protect and Serve? Check Out SDPD/SDSO's Record on COVID-19
A bunch of police just don’t care if you get sick. The evidence is indisputable here in San Diego. It’s become clear that the nihilism infecting the extremist right is preventing many of them from doing their job.
In case you haven’t been persuaded by frequent photos of law enforcement not wearing masks in situations suitable for the spread of the coronavirus, there’s plenty of evidence emerging in recent days indicating a widespread commitment to vaxxer sentiments.
They’re endangering themselves, their families and the general public. But they apparently don’t care, as long as they’re stickin’ it to the libs.
Of the 264 police officers who died in the line of duty in 2020 across the United States, more than half died of COVID-19, according to new data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund .
SDPD officers did everything but provide valet parking service to the quack-a-doodles who thought it was a good idea to protest at Rady Children’s Hospital last week.
Sam Levin at the Guardian has been prying vaccination records loose from law enforcement and correctional agencies all over California.
The Guardian requested vaccine data from police departments in California’s 20 largest cities and the top 10 largest sheriff’s departments in the state and reviewed reports from the California department of corrections and rehabilitation (CDCR).
The majority of police and sheriffs’ departments declined to share statistics, but the ones that replied appeared to have vaccination rates that were markedly lower than their surrounding communities, raising significant public health concerns as the Delta variant of the coronavirus surges and lawmakers debate vaccine mandates for government employees.
Some of the state’s lowest law enforcement vaccination rates exist in the highest-risk settings – the California prison system – which has suffered repeated catastrophic Covid-19 outbreaks that have so far infected nearly 50,000 people behind bars, resulting in 235 deaths.
Since publication of the article, he’s learned about the Orange County Sheriff's Department (16% vaccinated) and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office (23% vaccinated). The City of San Diego says it doesn’t keep track of those receiving vaccinations.
Chula Vista, San Francisco and Ventura County all have law enforcement officers with vaccination rates close to or higher than the general population. Even in those places it hasn’t been easy. The SF sheriff’s union recently threatened mass resignations if vaccines were required.
The San Diego Police Department says it’s conducting an internal investigation into a social media posting in which an officer urged his colleagues to refuse any orders to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or to wear protective masks. The post ended with the acronym, WWG1WGA, a slogan often used in communications by adherents of the QAnon group.
From City News Service:
The author of the statements called the issue "the hill to die on, because I promise you if `WE THE PEOPLE' lose this fight there won't be another hill to fight on."
The lawman, who identified himself as a 16-year member of the SDPD, added that like-minded members of the department "have to be willing to get fired from this job to secure your rights and stand by your convictions."
"Our coalition is growing by the day and if the Department and City are willing to fire 100-500 cops then so be it," the post continues. "For those who have taken the vaccine, been tested or choose to wear the mask, I support you 100% as you used your free will to make those decisions. Now I ask you to stand with your colleagues (and support their) free will as well."
In frequently cryptic wording interspersed with biblical references, the posting makes reference to an unnamed "sinister agenda at hand that is plaguing the country and the world."
Via KPBS:
In a letter to Mayor Todd Gloria, NAACP San Diego President Francine Maxwell said she and her membership were "gravely concerned" about the officer's statements.
"This post mentions 2nd Amendment rights (and) alleges there would be support of hundreds of officers in resisting the lawful government of our city and state," Maxwell wrote. "In the strongest possible terms, the NAACP San Diego branch condemns all types of rhetoric from public officials that might inspire insurrections or threatens public safety.
The usual suspects when it comes to law enforcement denialism would have us believe that the comments posted on a forum hosted by the San Diego Police Officers Association is just one individual.
The Department itself has issued a word salad saying that it’s trying to get to the bottom of this to discover if any policies have been violated. Riiiight.
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Let’s put this story into context. Multiple studies have provided evidence pointing to racism in how the SDPD and the SDSO engage with the public. Although people of color have a higher rate of being stopped and searched, white people are more likely to be carrying illegal items.
After each study drops, promises are made, only to be largely forgotten by the time the next survey comes along.
Much of what the public learns about the internal workings of local law enforcement agencies comes via evidence produced by lawsuits.
Just this week we learned, via Voice of San Diego, the details revealed leading to the settlement of a lawsuit stemming from the 2015 shooting death of Fridoon Nehad by SDPD officer Neal Browder. Every step of the inquiry into what occurred was met with calculated misrepresentations, obstruction, and denials about what evidence existed.
Read the Voice story; there are just too many damning bits of evidence to try and list here.
A parallel series of actions in just about any other setting, be it private or public, would lead to serious consequences. Instead, San Diego taxpayers will shell out $3 million to the victim’s family, a settlement that will no doubt include a non-disclosure agreement preventing even more evidence from seeing the light of day.
The situation in the San Diego’s Sheriff’s Office is different in the details, but the same when it comes to putting the interests of the force over the interests of the public.
Unlike the SDPD, the San Diego Sheriff is elected. Well, sorta. Sheriff Bill Gore is hanging up his holster next year. But fear not, nothing’s gonna change. HIs successor is predetermined, just as Gore was back in 2009.
What really sucks about Undersheriff Kelly Martinez being anointed are the instant endorsements appearing on her campaign website, including three Democrats from the County Board of Supervisors.
As the Union-Tribune editorialized:
Martinez may be qualified, and having the first woman sheriff would be inspiring, but Gore and the supervisors just elbowed others out of the race. In light of jail deaths and concerns about deputies’ treatment of people of color, a fair election without an insider on the inside track isn’t too much to ask.
A dozen or more lawsuits over deaths or serious injuries suffered in the County Jail are proceeding through the courts. More than 150 men and women have died in custody since Gore’s appointment in 2009.
FYI-- 73 inmates in County Jails have tested positive for COVID19 in recent days. I’m sure the low number of vaccinated sheriffs has nothing to do with that.
As to who’s being kept in jail these days, well, that’s a secret. Below are the results of a Voice of San Diego’s request for the criteria used to incarcerate arrestees in these days of COVID.
Lt. Amber Baggs, a department spokeswoman, told VOSD:
...releasing more details on the agency’s booking acceptance criteria could compromise public safety.
“This information may have the effect of emboldening some individuals to engage in unlawful activity if they have been assured that such conduct will not result in their being booked into jail,” Baggs wrote.
Damn, we must have some smart crooks here in San Diego, if they’re checking lists of bookable offenses before crimin’.
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We really do have to ask the question: “Who are the local police working for?”
Of course, if we dare ask this --as evidenced by the eagerness of local liberals to cave in to police on issues-- the righties are standing ready to brush off these questions with accusations about “defunding the police.”
One of the big campaign talking points for upcoming elections (including the recall) from Republicans is the danger to the public posed by “skyrocketing crime rates.”
Using templates like “theft is up because of Proposition 47” (it’s not) and suggesting that the increase in gun deaths is caused by weakened law enforcement powers (record gun sales might have something to do with it), were going to inundated with ads urging California to go back to the good old days, when we jammed the prisons to overflowing.
Take a good long look at SANDAG’s April 2021 report on crime in San Diego over the past 41 years and let me know if you think we’re in anything approaching a crisis.
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For those of you who might have missed it, the circus at the San Diego Board of Supervisors meeting (and CA’s recall election) got some laughs during The Late Show monologue:
https://youtu.be/_EHJfdeaxuI
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Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com