Chicago has a reputation for having high levels of crime and murder. Mayor Lori Lightfoot decided that all employees in the Democrat-run municipality would be subject to a mandatory vaccine. It was also applicable to police officers.
But many in the department didn’t want to get the jab, feeling much safer taking their chances with a virus that has a 99.9 percent survival rate. In an effort to coerce the union, the city brought it before the court. Needless to say, they didn’t comply.
The Daily Mail reported that the police union is winning the day. They also claim the lawsuit has been dropped due to sufficient officers meeting compliance standards. This comes just after Lightfoot was humiliated by the judge.
The City of Chicago has dropped its lawsuit Wednesday against the police union in its fight over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city employees.
Although the city claims that the complaint was unnecessary because more officers cooperated with it, this comes one month after Lori Lightfoot’s humiliating decision to suspend her December 31 deadline by a judge.
Chicago had sued the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 in October, accusing President John Catanzara of encouraging an ‘illegal strike’ by encouraging officers to disobey the order.
The lawsuit was a standoff between an already defunded police department and Lightfoot’s willingness to enact party-line measures upheld by Democrats. The vaccine mandate would have forced officers to get the vaccine or enter a “no-pay” status after December 31.
Lightfoot got embarrassed by the fact that a judge had extended the deadline.
Lightfoot was faced with the possibility of even more officers leaving the force due to crime at an all-time high and there being no means to enforce mandates. However, she claimed that she did this because enough officers (87%) had received the vaccine, so it wasn’t necessary.
“From day one when this requirement was announced in August, this entire process has been and will continue to be about protecting the lives and safety of all Chicagoans,” Lightfoot said in a statement. “The data shows that we are succeeding in that mission, and that police officers recognize that protecting and serving in the times of global pandemic means ensuring that they are vaccinated against COVID-19.”
Given the chain of events, it’s likely just an excuse to cover her retreat.
The Mail reports that Chicago has witnessed 739 murders as of the writing. This is an increase in crime by three percent over last year. The number of shootings has increased nine percent. Chicago’s murder rate has been high since its inception, but the majority of this increase is due to the defunding of Chicago’s police department, which Lightfoot supported during the Black Lives Matter movement.
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