COVID Surge Takes Toll on Miami Area Law Enforcement Agencies
A surge of COVID-19 cases and testing in the law enforcement community the past two weeks has thinned the ranks of several police departments and forced some Miami-Dade corrections officers to work 12-hour shifts while more than 1,400 inmates are isolated and awaiting test results.
In the past two weeks, the number of infected and isolated Miami-Dade County Police Department officers has swelled from under 100, to more than 330 in a department with close to 3,000 sworn personnel.
“We’re encouraging limiting contact with the public as much as possible, without affecting service,” said Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association President Steadman Stahl.
Stahl said that doesn’t mean police aren’t responding to calls for service for stolen bicycles, they’re just resorting temporarily to taking the reports over the phone. Officers will continue to make traffic stops, he said.
He also said the county police facilities, including the headquarters building in Doral, is undergoing a deep cleaning. And to try and limit the spread of the virus, some officers in specialized units are being asked to work remotely and file reports from their vehicles.
“It’s instead of having people in a cubicle where you can spread the virus,” Stahl said.
Other large departments in Miami-Dade don’t seem to have been hit as hard, but they are short-staffed. Of Miami’s more than 1,300 sworn police officers, 101 are out due to COVID-19. And on Miami Beach, less than 10 percent of its sworn personnel are fighting the illness or awaiting test results.
Miami police spokesman Michael Vega said it hasn’t yet reached the point where officers are being asked to work extra hours to make up for missing shifts. But interim Police Chief Manny Morales has enacted a policy that permits officers in one district to drive to another district if help is needed. For example, if a call comes in from Coconut Grove and it’s short some officers, cops from Little Havana will now respond.
“If we’re short any officers, we can make it up by this type of response,” Vega said.
The agency that’s had to make the largest adjustment so far, however, is one in which only about 6 percent of personnel are battling the virus. Though only 138 of the more than 2,200 sworn officers at Miami-Dade Corrections & Rehabilitation are home recovering from the virus, it’s been problematic, said Stahl.
That’s because of all the different jobs the department undertakes, from accompanying those jailed to different facilities, to transporting inmates to court hearings. Corrections, Stahl said, is unlike normal policing, where if the agency is short-staffed at the airport, for instance, personnel can easily be shifted.
Another major issue: Caring for the 1,400 inmates who have been isolated as they await test results. More than 300 others have already tested positive. The agency has adjusted by informing some “essential” personnel that they have to work 12 hours shifts, also known as Alpha Bravo, said Juan Diasgranados, public affairs spokesman for MDCR.
“MDCR has been experiencing a significant increase in the number of sworn staff testing positive with COVID-19,” said the corrections spokesman. “The adjustments will enable extra personnel to fill critical gaps elsewhere, without canceling regular days off and previously approved scheduled leave.”
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