Indiana officials are encouraging Chicago police officers to move one state to the east in light of the city’s recent vaccine mandates.
Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) told Fox News in a statement this week, “Our police do the hardest job in the world, and they deserve respect — not losing their pay or being fired for refusing to comply with a ridiculous vaccine mandate.”
Braun is encouraging the “3,000 Chicago cops defying this government overreach” to go to his state of Indiana.
“Indiana’s police departments are hiring now and will welcome you with the respect you deserve,” Braun told the outlet.
“My office stands ready to help connect Chicago police officers to an Indiana police department that is hiring now and doesn’t have a vaccine mandate,” Braun said. “Welcome to Indiana!”
Steve Scheckel, chief of police in Munster, Indiana, made a similar statement in an interview with Fox, saying there is a “brighter future right over the border.”
Fox News reported:
“We’ve been seeing more and more Chicago police officers when we do an emergency hire, which is basically a lateral transfer. They already have the academy” Scheckel said, adding that he is “absolutely” open to the idea of working alongside those “looking for a better quality of life for their family” who may have been ousted from their jobs.
“Here in northwest Indiana, in Munster, we have one of the top-rated school systems in the state,” Scheckel said.
“[Officers] can send their kids to public school. It’s a low-crime community. Even though we’re 30 minutes from Chicago, we’re rated one of the 10 safest cities in the state of Indiana. So, it’s really just a step across the state line to a better life for the officer.”
“From the governor on down, in Indiana, we support our law enforcement,” said Scheckel. “I think there’s a clear contrast between what’s going on in the city of Chicago right now and what’s happening in the state of Indiana.”
On Tuesday, Sergeant. Glen Fifield, per an official Twitter account for an Indiana state police district reiterated the support in a tweet, writing, “Hey Chicago Police Officers, we’re hiring! No vaccine mandate. Apply today […] Lower taxes, great schools, welcoming communities.”
Hey Chicago Police Officers, we’re hiring! No vaccine mandate. Apply today at https://t.co/lTkLS6Jc9V Lower taxes, great schools, welcoming communities. pic.twitter.com/u6ggZoxbcU
— Sgt. Glen Fifield (@ISPLowell2) October 20, 2021
Fox News reported on additional police departments in the state that do not have a vaccine requirement, noting, that, “according to Braun’s team, [those] include Schererville Police Department and Merrillville Police Department, as well as the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.”
As reported by The Daily Wire, the Democratic Mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot has been in a back-and-forth battle with Chicago police and its main union over the city’s vaccine mandate. The city and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) have taken the matter to court in combatting lawsuits over the city’s vaccine mandate requirements.
The Daily Wire reported, “City employees in Chicago were required to report their vaccination status to the city on Friday, but more than 3,200 Chicago police officers were refusing to do so as of Monday, according to the police union. Chicago police officials warned last week that officers who refuse to comply with the vaccine mandate may face being disciplined or fired.”
Last week, Chicago FOP President John Catanzara put out a video in which he said, “Do not fill out the portal information. … I’ve made my status very clear as far as the vaccine, but I do not believe the city has the authority to mandate that to anybody — let alone that information about your medical history.”
He continued, “I can guarantee you that no-pay status will not last more than 30 days. There’s no way they’re going to be able to sustain a police department workforce at 50% capacity or less for more than seven days without something budging.”
On Monday, Lightfoot discussed the situation, saying, “What we’ve seen from the Fraternal Order Police, and particularly the leadership, is a lot of misinformation, a lot of half-truths, and frankly flat-out lies, in order to induce an insurrection.”
She added, “And we’re not having that. So we want to make it very, very clear that the law’s on our side. We feel very confident about it and what he said even after, what I heard that he said even after the lawsuit was filed and we notified them, is urging members of the department to ignore their chain of command.”