As police around the country grapple with their role in the coronavirus response, they are confronted with another challenge: keeping their own officers safe.
The New York Police Department has already had more than 2,700 police officers and civilian workers call out sick with flulike symptoms, according to new reports — or roughly about 9% of the nation’s largest police force. Cities from Tampa Bay to Boston to Los Angeles have also had officers go out sick with the virus. And in Minneapolis, two police officers tested negative for COVID-19, a department spokesman confirmed, as calls grow louder for strengthening protections of cops and other front-line workers in the coronavirus pandemic.
The two officers were sent home after showing symptoms of the virus that has raced around the world, killing more than 800 people in the United States alone. Department spokesman John Elder on Wednesday said that the officers self-quarantined until they learned that they did not have the virus, but he didn’t name them nor reveal their current assignments.
What is not clear is whether the officers began showing symptoms while on the job or when they were at home.
Elder said the department hasn’t yet considered testing officers as a precautionary step. “If we have people who are ill, we’re sending them to their medical providers,” he said. The department has assembled an internal task force of officers and civilian staff to deal with coronavirus, he said.
In St. Paul, police patrol officers are being equipped with gloves and hand sanitizer, while detectives have also been told to keep an extra uniform in their office, should they be needed to replace 911 responders who fall sick.
On Thursday, a coalition of lawmakers and union officials held a news conference at the state capital to drum up support for expanding workers’ compensation protections for cops, firefighters, nurses and corrections officers who test positive for COVID-19. Without these protections, first responders must prove that they contracted the virus on the job to qualify for paid sick benefits, the coalition said.
“I’m ashamed that we’re asking them not only to put their physical health on the line for us, but also their financial health,” said Rep. Dan Wolgamott, DFL-St. Cloud. He and other speakers urged Gov. Tim Walz to issue an executive order creating a “worker’s comp presumption” for affected first responders.
After Gov. Tim Walz’s announcement last week ordering the closure of most nonessential businesses, police leaders issued a departmentwide directive outlining a series of guidelines and procedures aimed at limiting officers’ exposure.
Like most police departments, Minneapolis has started issuing its patrol officers gloves and reusable masks, although they haven’t been offered guidance on when they should be used. Homicide detectives, who haven’t been given masks, have been forced to change their investigative techniques: for instance, keeping their distance at crime scenes and instructing masked officers how to examine a dead body and look for evidence nearby. And interviews with suspects and witnesses are now mostly being done in the field, instead of bringing them back to the station.
Elder said the pandemic has affected the department’s daily operations — a number of upcoming public events have been postponed or canceled, including its annual awards ceremony — but that a current recruit class will go on as scheduled, graduating sometime this summer.
Chief Medaria Arradondo said in a statement this week that the department has begun to shift its patrol priorities based on the “expertise of our public health officials” to “optimize the benefits to all.”
“We will continue to look after our city by keeping it safe and we will lean into spaces that will allow us to assist our most vulnerable populations with an emphasis on our seniors and those experiencing homelessness,” he said.
If officers from a particular shift become ill, the department will backfill their positions with detectives and members of specialized units like the Community Engagement Team. Elder said the department also has mutual aid agreements with other local law enforcement agencies to help fill service gaps.
“St. Paul gets hit, you may see Minneapolis officers in St. Paul, and vice versa,” Elder said, while adding that an internal audit revealed that fewer officers had called out sick in recent weeks than during the same period last year. “We’re not seeing this rash of sickness that some people were expecting.”
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March 26, 2020 at 11:45PM
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Amid spreading virus, Minnesota first responders try to keep themselves safe - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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