Hey, remember that wild time around August of last year when it felt like we were on the cusp of a police-state-backed race war? You know. Some things happened. Amid conversations about defunding or abolishing the police, two things happened. First, a sad realization entered public conversation. And no, it was not that about three people a day are killed by police, most of them unarmed. It was that officers hit lower rates of job satisfaction, occasionally quitting in response. Second was a metaphor, a phrase that was used to divert attempts of a structural analysis of racism in policing toward individual blame, namely that “there were a few bad apples” in policing, but that that shouldn’t be enough to demand mass resignations or to ask people to step down.
In light of this, I always take note of what it would take for officers to step down. It would have to be something big, especially if multiple people were to follow suit. Something bigger than unarmed people being killed. Something like… a vaccine mandate.
Police officers are threatening to resign over a vaccine mandate in Leesburg, Va. Officers in LA are threatening to sue and or resign over vaccine mandates, claiming that vaccination requirements contribute to a “hostile work environment.” In Detroit, one in five officers and firefighters are threatening to quit over mandates. And, despite police unions recognizing the safety and significance of COVID vaccination, they are willing to fight to protect their members’ right to not be immunized.
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It’s nice to know that the people meant to protect and serve us are protecting and serving themselves. Risking getting shot on the job is one thing, but taking a shot so that you don’t kill an old lady you sneeze on during a photo-op appears to be a little much. Maybe people protesting police murders should change course and protest in favor of vaccine mandates. Maybe then they’ll get the defunding they’re looking for. And while we’re at it, can we try and make “just a few bad apples” mean what it used to mean again?
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. Before that, he wrote columns for an online magazine named The Muse Collaborative under the pen name Knehmo. He endured the great state of Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected].