“We're in unprecedented territory here:' More than 1/5 of Detroit's police are quarantined. More than 440 NYPD have been diagnosed. COVID-19 is racing through police departments around the country.
FILE - In this March 26, 2020, file photo, a Chicago police officer notifies a cyclist that the trails in Promontory Park, along Lake Michigan, are closed in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19 infections, in Chicago.
“I don’t think it’s too far to say that officers are scared out there,” said Sgt. Manny Ramirez, president of Fort Worth Police Officers Association. Police are accustomed to meeting staffing crunches by canceling vacations and leave, putting officers on 12-hour on, 12-hour off schedules and, when necessary, by shifting detectives and other specialized personnel to patrol.
In New York, which has rapidly become the American epicenter of the pandemic, more than 500 NYPD personnel have come down with COVID-19, including 442 officers, and the department’s head of counter-terrorism was hospitalized with symptoms. Two NYPD employees have died. On a single day this week, Friday, 4,111 uniformed officers called in sick, more than 10% of the force and more than three times the daily average.
Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, based in Washington, D.C., said police can’t just go out of business.
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