Cops should get COVID vaccine

The New York City Police Department, which employs thousands of Long Islanders, requires its officers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or show weekly proof of a negative test for the virus.

But Nassau and Suffolk counties, with the biggest police departments on Long Island, have no such mandate. Why?

The answer can only lie not in differences of opinion on public health but in local politicians’ knee-jerk sensitivity to emotions within law-enforcement factions.

Influential police unions argue that these professionals can weigh the risks of COVID and decide for themselves.

Sure they can. But making the wrong choice can hurt the public and themselves.

Even with the vaccine-or-test mandate, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said last week that only 64% of his agency’s sworn officers are fully vaccinated. That’s far behind the rate for teachers, and the general population.

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. But in many precincts, some officers cling to vague suspicions of negative side effects and hazardous ingredients.

They do not do this based on any deep knowledge of medicine, let alone seventh-grade biology. "You can’t make me" seems to be their statement.

Based on the day’s circumstances, public opinions of police — as with other services — swing between the labels of hero and villain. The generalizing is silly, but the public image of any profession counts.

When officers defy scientific and civil authority for no reason that they can articulate beyond emotionalism, what message does that send about the validity of their own legal authority when they assert it, or their judgment?

For the officers, both personally and professionally, vaccine resistance is bad for business.

Cops who relate to patriotism and a military mentality should consider that during the American Revolution, Gen. George Washington didn’t face foot-dragging when he ordered crude smallpox inoculations for his troops.

Still, Nassau and Suffolk officials appear fearful of crossing the resisters in their departments by imposing the kind of mandates other employers are using to boost vaccine rates.

The NYPD mandate is no longer even controversial. But on Long Island, County Executives Laura Curran in Nassau and Steve Bellone in Suffolk and legislators in both parties prefer to lead from the back and ask nicely, if ineffectively.

Like it or not, the police work for the public at the direction of elected and appointed government officials. This isn’t about personal choice, but whether those in charge have the courage to impose a policy that an epidemic demands.

On this specific issue, they’re just whistling and giving good advice, to get vaccinated. Maybe some of these leaders will grow more determined after the November elections, or whenever the mandate is proved politically safe.