Police group: Cops, Charlotte workers deserve hazard pay during coronavirus pandemic
A support organization for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers wants the city to pay law enforcement officers and other essential public employees hazard pay as they work through the coronavirus pandemic.
Police officers are considered essential workers under the stay-at-home orders locally and at the state level. Officers, along with paramedics, fire fighters and others, such as garbage collectors, are expected to continue work. The union for local sanitation workers raised concerns Tuesday about safety for employees who pick up recycling and trash in Charlotte.
The Fraternal Order of Police, a support organization for CMPD officers, has said that these employees should receive hazard pay, to compensate for possible on-the-job exposure to the virus. Although the FOP represents CMPD officers, organization spokesman Chris Kopp said they are hoping to spearhead the effort for all essential city employees.
Hazard pay amounts to $500 extra per month, Kopp said.
“The governor ordered a shelter in place and these employees don’t have that option,” he said in an interview.
There have been cases of COVID-19 among first responders in Mecklenburg County.
At least four first responders have tested positive. The first responders include two CMPD officers, a Medic ambulance worker and a Charlotte Fire Department employee. In Cabarrus County, a paramedic tested positive on Tuesday.
Mecklenburg County jail facilities have had two reported cases of COVID-19 — one from a detention officer and another from a nurse.
Across the country, the call for hazard pay has been echoed by unions representing people who work a wide range of jobs — from emergency medical personnel to grocery store clerks and nurses and doctors.
So far, city officials in Charlotte have not announced plans for hazard pay.
In a press conference Tuesday, Mayor Vi Lyles did not directly answer a question on whether the city would pay first responders more money to compensate for coronavirus risks.
“We are always going to treat our employees fairly,” she said and added that the city would do what it could to keep and retain people.
Some cities have began adding more pay for front-line workers. In Atlanta, the mayor has issued an order that gives front-line city employees an additional $500 per month. Birmingham City Council also voted to appropriate half a million dollars for hazard and overtime pay for city employees.
Mayor Lyles said she could not speak to what other cities like Atlanta or New York have done since they are in a “very different circumstance.”
Kopp says that while officers have protective equipment — like masks and gowns — it’s not always practical for law enforcement to use the equipment.
“For city employees, every call that they go on and every person that they come in contact with after, they’re expected to basically sanitize themselves before they go to the next call,” he said.
“It sounds simple but it’s not very practical with an officer who’s trying to arrest someone fighting them to the ground.”
Non-emergency police changes
The Charlotte FOP has also requested that CMPD temporarily stop dispatching officers to non-emergency calls to limit their potential of exposure.
“They can deal with your needs just as well over the phone ... Why are we dispatching an officer to that location?” Kopp said.
CMPD has said lower-level calls — which includes property damage or theft from a vehicle — should be reported online.
Already, courts have taken action.
On March 23, Acting Chief District Court Judge Elizabeth Trosch issued an order that suspends arrests for many misdemeanors, excluding domestic violence and violence involving a child. The decision was made in consultation with CMPD as well as other law enforcement and legal agencies.
CMPD spokesman Rob Tufano said in March that the department will follow Judge Trosch’s order. But he said CMPD was not planning any other changes in enforcement to reduce the jail population.
“It would be irresponsible for the CMPD to stop our crime fighting efforts as our community continues to experience victimization of crime during the pandemic,” Tufano wrote in an email to the Observer in March.
CMPD officials have said they believe the police force has adequate personnel to continue responding to emergencies during the health crisis.
However with CMPD already short 200 positions, Kopp said he is worried that there won’t be enough officers should more officers become ill.
In Chicago and New York, police officers have lost their lives to COVID-19 and hundreds have also tested positive, according to reporting by The Chicago Tribune and The New York Times.
