The San Francisco Police Department is down more than 500 officers after COVID vaccine mandates forced some to choose between their jobs and their conscience – and conscience won.
According to local reports, the mandates put an added strain on a department already stretched thin by budget cuts and resignations following last year’s societal war on police. Roughly 250 law enforcement personnel – including 60 police officers – have so far not complied with the city’s vaccine mandate.
ABC7 reports the department was already facing a shortage of 473 officers before the mandate booted another 60 off the force.
Those police officers and sheriff’s deputies are among the larger 850 or so city workers – just under 3 percent of the total workforce – who reported not having gotten the jab, meaning that per the city’s mandate, they’ll be placed on administrative leave until their request for exemption cases can be heard. That total also includes firefighters and public transportation employees.
ABC7 also reported that several of the city’s MUNI bus stops were non-functional after 100 transit operators refused the jab, and that the city had to shut down two of its bus routes thanks to not having enough workers.
Meanwhile, crime in the city has continued to rise, including violent gun crimes. One supermarket has actually scaled back its hours due to a skyrocketing rate of shoplifting in the area.