Seattle police patrol cars were photographed with Gadsden flags hanging from their windows ahead of Washington state’s vaccine mandate going into effect.
“Some officers plan on taking time off to decide what they will do long term. They don’t seem eager to stay with SPD. Others explained that they are going to leave the SPD by the end of the year as a result of this,” KTTH radio show host Jason Rantz wrote on Twitter, accompanied by the photos. “Officers took these photos in protest of the mandate.”
Washington state employees are required to submit proof of vaccination by Monday. Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan said officers won’t face immediate termination but will face a “Loudermill hearing,” where the officers can publicly state why they refused to comply with the mandate before formal separation from the force.
One Seattle business owner is already fearful that the mandate will result in staffing shortages and longer 911 call waits.
“I feel like I’m on my own. I can’t get help from anywhere. I just open the door every day and don’t know if I’m going to go home safe and good to my family or if something is going to happen,” Youssef said. “The tourists are not going to come, the people are not going to go out of their home to buy things. It’s going to be like a ghost city,” Maher Youssef, owner of Youssef’s Pluto Organic Café in Belltown, told KING5 News last week.
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