A few days after the Los Angeles City Council voted to defund the police force by $150 million, hundreds of Los Angeles police officers called out sick. Low morale in police departments across the country has prompted large call-outs of officers whose unstated ailment has been dubbed the "blue flu."
The Los Angeles Times reports that up to 300 LAPD officers called out sick over the July 4 holiday, an unusual spike in call-outs that has leaders within the department investigating whether the call-outs were part of an organized labor action or protest, both of which would be illegal.
(Via the Los Angeles Times)
It came on a weekend with an unusually high number of homicides and shootings and as residents complained of illegal fireworks exploding all across the city.
In certain anti-gang units, everyone or nearly everyone called in sick at once, sources said.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore said there could be several reasons why officers called in sick, particularly given rising COVID-19 cases within the force and throughout Los Angeles County. But he also acknowledged signs that certain officers and units called in as part of a concerted action.
Officers who knowingly participated in such an effort would be guilty of misconduct and punished, Moore said, but he did not have a timeline for when the internal probe would wrap up. As of Tuesday, he was still talking to front-line supervisors like sergeants and lieutenants about the pattern and any justifications they may know of, including any coronavirus concerns among officers and their families.
The move comes just weeks after LAPD officers called in absent for nearly 700 shifts on Los Angeles County’s transit system after Moore temporarily froze overtime pay.
After Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, a Democrat, announced a felony murder charge against former Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe and charges against officer Devin Brosnan for the shooting of Rayshard Brooks, around 170 officers called out sick in the hours and days that followed. Most of the "sick" officers worked in the downtown area where anti-cop protests have taken place.
As the Left ratchets up their anti-cop rhetoric, it's not just the number of police call-outs experiencing an uptick. Crime is also exploding in major cities across the country.
In New York, more than 60 people were shot over the Fourth of July weekend. In Chicago, where homicides are up 34 percent and shootings up 42 percent through the end of June compared to the previous year, at least 67 people were shot over the weekend. In Atlanta, more than 30 were shot over the weekend and shootings and murders are double what they were in 2019 for the four-week period after Memorial Day.
As crime skyrockets, Democrats are doubling down on their calls to defund police departments and other "systems of oppression," to quote Ilhan Omar. If elected, Joe Biden, has vowed to transform America. And on Wednesday, Biden called cops "the enemy" who should "absolutely" be defunded. God help us.