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On Wednesday, Officer Garrett Rolfe was charged with some 11 criminal charges over his killing of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta. That night, Atlanta cops began to call in sick at higher-than-average rates.
According to a tweet from the Atlanta Police Department, this didn’t mean that the streets were unsafe.
“Earlier suggestions that multiple officers from each zone had walked off the job were inaccurate. The department is experiencing a higher-than-usual number of call outs with the incoming shift. We have enough resources to maintain operations & remain able to respond to incidents.”
The sick calls were presumably a form of protest by the police officers.
Police around the country are under scrutiny for too often allowing officers to get away with using excessive force. Following the killing of George Floyd on May 25, widespread Black Lives Matter protests have drawn attention to police brutality. Rayshard Brooks’ killing last week drew swift outcry from the city of Atlanta.
Increased public vitriol toward the idea of police officers has upset many in law enforcement. In a viral speech, New York Police Union head Mike O’Meara said reporters were treating police “like animals and thugs.” O’Meara, notably, wore a shirt in 2014 that read “I Can Breathe,” mocking the dying words of Eric Garner, a black man killed by New York police.
It’s possible that a similar sentiment drove the widespread call-outs in Atlanta Wednesday night. Police may be protesting in solidarity with other officers who are feeling attacked by the “Defund the Police” movement.
The presence of fewer police officers on the streets is what some protesters are calling for.
The protests, which come in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, have called for police to play a smaller role in communities. Even as businesses owners Google small business advertising to try to make ends meet, underserved communities feel they’re still being unjustly targeted by police.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told CNN police morale is down tenfold.
“There’s a lot happening in our cities and our police officers are receiving the brunt of it, quite frankly,” she said.
In spite of widespread calls in Atlanta to begin defunding police departments, Bottoms clarified that the city would be giving police officers “big raises” soon.
Further, the mayor said “we expect that our officers will keep their commitment to our communities.”
