LOS ANGELES (NewsNation Now) — Nearly 2,500 Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department personnel are sick or quarantined due to the latest COVID-19 surge.
The LAPD said it’s looking into how the staffing shortage will impact deployment numbers as the city nears Super Bowl LVI weekend.
“We just don’t have the manpower to keep our regular citizens safe; now, can you imagine people coming in for the Super Bowl? We can’t keep them safe either,” said LAPD Detective Jamie McBride.
Currently, 82 percent of LAPD staff and 64 percent of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office staff are fully vaccinated. However, despite those vaccination rates, breakthrough cases have been surging.
The LAPD said the biggest issue is the delay in receiving COVID test results.
“It’s taking sometimes up to 10 days to get results back, and when they are positive that officer has been out in the field contacting the public, working with other officers in the station in the black and white and now those officers are getting sick with COVID,” McBride explained.
To ensure public safety, some plans for the LAPD include eliminating days off, cutting vacations short and potentially asking nearby police agencies to send over officers to assist, a strategy deployed during the LA riots and the Northridge quake.
“It’s not just a major incident that is happening like a major disaster or civil unrest; this is COVID, and it’s not a joke,” McBride said.