If things there over the next 24 hours play out as they look likely to play out, then Chicago could very soon be facing huge swaths of the city that are completely without a police presence—all thanks to Mayor Lori Lightfoot's vaccine mandate:
The head of the Chicago police officers union has called on its members to defy the city's requirement to report their COVID-19 vaccination status by Friday or be placed on unpaid leave.
Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara vowed to take Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration to court if it tries to enforce the mandate, which requires city workers to report their vaccine status by the end of the workweek. After Friday, unvaccinated workers who won't submit to semiweekly coronavirus testing will be placed on unpaid leave.
Catanzara urges rank-and-file officers not to comply.
"It's safe to say that the city of Chicago will have a police force at 50% or less for this weekend coming up," Catanzara said. "That is not because of the FOP. That is 100% because of the mayor's unwillingness to budge from her hard line.
Catanzara's video is below, and it's worth watching the whole thing just for the sheer brinksmanship on display:
Your move, Mayor Lightfoot!
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