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UPDATE: September 8, 2021, it has been confirmed that in Portland, "the City will not be mandating vaccines for our sworn law enforcement officers." This is an extremely big victory for Portland police!
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Hold the line, because there may be hope for us all. Your sincerely held beliefs in not getting vaccinated may not end in terminated employment. Take that with a grain of salt, of course, but let’s dive into some recent news that merits some positivity in this whirlwind of uncertainty.
In the past 24 hours, it has been reported that Portland police may be exempt from mandated vaccination. This is well documented in the article linked below and is worth the read. To summarize, the vaccination mandates were issued for “healthcare workers,” which raises the legal challenge as to whether law enforcement are indeed healthcare workers. While for many it is obvious that there is a distinction between healthcare workers and emergency responders, the legal battle ensues, and it appears as though it may be a victory for police in Portland.
The positive news for those in Washington, specifically those employed with WSP, is that this legal challenge brought forth in Portland appears to run parallel to potential legal challenges facing Governor Jay Inslee’s recent vaccination mandate (Proclamation 21-14) for State-employees. If a similar legal challenge proved successful in Washington, the Washington State Patrol would, fortunately, not find themselves facing the expected loss of troopers. As detailed in this previous post, WSP was recently advised that there would allegedly be no accommodations granted for religious exemptions, resulting in the termination of a large percentage of their workforce.
In Seattle, where SPD is potentially facing a significant loss of officers, another legal challenge that is being investigated is whether Mayor Durkin has the legal authority to issue the vaccination mandate she had issued on August 9, 2021. While Governor Inslee's mandate pertains to State-employees, it appears as though Mayor Durkin is simply coat tailing the governor's proclamation, raising obvious legal concern.
SPD United has been in communication with legal counsel, as these and other legal challenges to the Governor and Mayor’s mandates are being thoroughly reviewed.
This would not be the first time Governor Inslee issued a proclamation that was done so in bad faith, only to be withdrawn once legally challenged and deemed unenforceable. Specifically, Jay Inslee’s “religious gather ban” (Proclamation 20-25) which reads, in part, “all people in Washington State from leaving their homes or participating in social, spiritual and recreational gatherings of any kind regardless of the number of participants….” In April of 2020, Plaintiff Joshua Freed challenged Governor Inslee in Federal Court, and he prevailed. Do not be mistaken, Governor Inslee’s vaccination mandate proclamation is undergoing even more scrutiny, and Court filings can certainly be expected in the coming weeks, if not days.
