COVID-19 is killing cops, but Long Island's largest police departments don't have vaccine mandates

Long Island's largest police departments don't require officers to get vaccinated against the coronavirus — even though it has been the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths nationally the past two years.

Nassau and Suffolk police departments, the largest on the Island with about 2,400 officers each, also don't require from officers proof that they are testing for the virus. The same is true for smaller police departments, like Freeport, Southampton and Southold. The two sheriffs' departments — agencies that handle the jails, prisoner transfers and other law-enforcement duties — also don't require officers to get the vaccine or to get tested.

Rather than issue mandates forcing police to choose between vaccines and their jobs, as former New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo did for health care workers in August, Long Island officials are taking a less confrontational approach, one that emphasizes outreach and education — and dodges potential clashes with anti-vaccine residents or politically powerful law enforcement unions.

"We will encourage all of our residents, including all police officers and first responders, to roll up their sleeves and get the shot," said Michael Fricchione, a spokesman for County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat who is running for a second term. "We believe education and outreach is the most effective long-term strategy to ensuring a healthy and vaccinated population."

Acting Suffolk Police Commissioner Stuart Cameron said his agency is taking its cues from county health officials, the New York State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control.

"Right now we are following county policy and the county policy has not required that our employees get vaccinated," Cameron said. "If that changes, then obviously we will follow county policy."

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone declined to comment.

The Long Island stands are a stark contrast to that of the New York City Police Department, which directs its 35,000-member force to get vaccinated or to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test when showing up for work.

Labor unions say members should decide whether to get vaccinated

Law enforcement union leaders on the Island say they believe vaccines are important tools in the fight against COVID-19, but vaccinations are personal decisions that should be left to individuals, not elected officials or police administrators.

"I have had COVID and I am vaccinated, but the Suffolk County PBA does not believe an employer has the right to mandate vaccines under threat of discipline or termination," said Suffolk Police Benevolent Association president Noel DiGerolamo.

Nassau Superior Officers Association president Rick Frassetti agrees: "Getting vaccinated is a personal choice."

Federal courts have ruled that public employers can require employees to get vaccinated, the Fraternal Order of Police recently told its 356,000 members.

"The National FOP asserts that whether or not to accept the vaccine is a personal decision that our members should make for themselves after consultation with their doctor or other medical professionals," the FOP said in a Sept. 24 statement. "We will continue to be engaged with the (Biden) administration, governors and other elected leaders on these matters as vaccine and testing policies are implemented on every level of government."

Some cops are hesitant to get protection from the virus that has killed nearly 10,000 people on Long Island since March 2020, according to officials, because they believe development of the vaccines was rushed, the shots can impact fertility or people don’t need to be inoculated if they have already had COVID-19 — misinformation spread on social media and by some media outlets.

"Why aren’t cops getting vaccinated? The answer eludes me," said Joseph Giacalone, a professor of criminal justice at John Jay College and a former NYPD detective sergeant. "They go into homes, hospitals and homeless shelters every day, where they can be exposed to the virus. They deal with enough threats every day at work... Why wouldn’t you want to be vaccinated?"

Vaccination rates fluctuate between departments

Cameron said 95% of department employees recently completed a survey regarding vaccination status, which found that 62% of the agency’s approximately 2,400 sworn officers are fully vaccinated. More than three-quarters of Suffolk County residents over the age of 18 — 76.6% as of Thursday — are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Cameron said it is not fair to compare cops with the general population, since the general population includes senior citizens who have gotten vaccinated at higher rates because they are more vulnerable to hospitalization and death.

Nassau police do not track the number of officers who have received COVID-19 vaccines, according to Det. Lt. Richard LeBrun, a spokesman for the department. LeBrun said 42% of the department’s approximately 2,400 cops have been vaccinated through the county’s Department of Health. He said the total number of officers vaccinated is probably higher, since some may have received the shots at doctors’ offices, pharmacies or through local fire departments or ambulance companies where they are volunteers.

More than 81% of Nassau residents over the age of 18 are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

NYPD officers risk being docked pay if they don’t get the shots or subject themselves to weekly testing for the virus, according to a directive issued by the department earlier this month. NYPD cops will not be compensated for time they spend getting tested, the directive said.

NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea said last week that 64% his agency's sworn officers are fully vaccinated. According to the CDC, 82.1% of adults in Queens, 79.5% in Manhattan, 70.8% in Staten Island, 68.8% in the Bronx and 67.7% in Brooklyn are fully vaccinated.

COVID-19 has taken cops' lives on Long Island

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reports that 45 of the 264 cops who died in the line of duty in 2020 were killed by COVID-19. The virus is the number one cause of death this year, too, even though police and other first responders were among the first eligible for shots when the vaccines were rolled out in January. Seventy-one of the 155 line-of-duty deaths during the first six months of 2021 were also caused by COVID, the NLEOMF said.

The Fraternal Order of Police estimates that 687 police officers across the nation have died from COVID-19, including 50 in New York State.

Those fallen officers include Suffolk police Lt. Robert Van Zeyl, who died from the coronavirus in January, and Nassau officer Charles Vroom, who succumbed to the virus on Sept. 12. Sgt. Keith Allison of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office died after a 17-day battle with COVID-19 in December. Suffolk auxiliary police Capt. Anthony DeNoyior died in April 2020 from the virus.

In Suffolk, 620 cops have tested positive for COVID-19, while 776 have been diagnosed with the virus in Nassau.

The Suffolk and Nassau sheriff’s offices also don't require their officers to get vaccinated or notify officials about their vaccine status. Nassau Sheriff James Dzurenda said 330 of his agency’s employees have tested positive for the virus since March 2020. In Suffolk, 305 of Sheriff Errol Toulon’s staff have tested positive.

The governor has urged local governments to require vaccinations

Gov. Kathy Hochul has urged local governments to require their employees, including police officers, to get vaccinated, but she lacks the authority to mandate it. Hochul, who stood by Cuomo's Sept. 27 deadline for health care workers, could mandate vaccines at state-run hospitals and nursing homes but is working with privately run facilities and their unions to boost vaccinations.

Cuomo, who resigned amid sexual harassment allegations in August, was stripped of his broad emergency powers to combat the pandemic by a new state law in July. He said at that time that only local governments now have the power to issue vaccine mandates. The legislature would have to pass a law requiring local government employees to be vaccinated, he said.

"Now, localities will make the decisions," Cuomo said July 26. "By law it is a local decision unless, God forbid, the numbers get so big there is another state of emergency and state has to take over."

New York State Police do not track vaccination status, and its officers are also not required to get the shots, according to director of public information Beau Duffy. Officers working some details, like the 170 members who worked the New York State Fair, were vaccinated, he said. Forty academy training officers and all 250 recruit troopers, members of the new academy class that reported in early September, were required to be vaccinated.

"Our academy is residential and both the recruits and training officers live in the dorms," Duffy said.

Smaller police departments don't have vaccine requirements either

Smaller departments across Long Island, too, have not required their officers to get vaccinated. Southold police are also not required to get the shots, according to Chief Martin Flatley. Neither are Freeport cops, said Mayor Robert Kennedy, who said 50% to 60% of his department’s officers are vaccinated.

"I’m very surprised by that because I think officers may be more susceptible," Kennedy said. "They are the first at the scene. They drive or ride in the ambulance."

Some female officers, Kennedy said, are reluctant to get vaccinated because they incorrectly believe the shot could impact their ability to get pregnant. Officers who have had COVID-19, he added, believe they are protected by antibodies. But he won’t consider a vaccine mandate unless it is required by Nassau County, New York State or the federal government.

Southampton Police Chief Steven Skyrnecki said about 25% of his agency’s 100 officers are unvaccinated. About 30 Southampton cops have been infected with the virus, and all have recovered.

"We want to protect everybody but we are also conscious of people’s individual rights," Skyrnecki said. "It’s a careful blend of individual’s rights and protecting others in the workplace."

On Monday, East Hampton Village Police Chief Michael J.Tracey said the department began requiring on October 1 that its officers, dispatchers, paramedics and other staff to submit proof of vaccination or be tested weekly for COVID-19.

"We also require the use of masks inside our Municipal Buildings (per Village Policy) and in all situations where such personnel are interacting with the public, and can’t maintain safe social distancing," Tracey said in a statement.

With Robert Brodsky and Michael Gormley