Written by Dianne Bernhard, Executive Director at Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.).
Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) is the charity of choice for Law Enforcement Today and we are proud to be partners with this incredible organization.
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Stay home. Socially distance yourself. Work remotely. All of these are necessary advice given to all of us by our government and health leaders in an attempt to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
But several groups of American workers can’t take that advice. They are essential to our day-to-day lives.
The list of those essential workers is long, and there are many professions that are stepping up to the plate to make sure our basic needs and health care needs are met.
Among those are our law enforcement first responders. They have to go to work to answer the calls to keep us safe. They may or may not have adequate personal protective equipment (PPE).
They certainly don’t know who they may encounter or who may be a carrier of the virus. If a citizen with the virus calls 911 with an emergency, will our first responders still respond? You can count on it.
They can’t heed the precautions given to the remainder of the population. Our safety and national security depend on it.
At the time this article is being written, at least five police officers have died as a result of COVID-19. Unfortunately, there will likely be others. Right now the highest priority is to keep those death toll numbers as low as possible.
Fast forward days, weeks, or perhaps months from now when we learn of law enforcement officers who answered the call and contracted the virus, some ultimately losing their own lives.
Should these officers’ families receive line-of-duty death benefits?
Should the families of these heroes be compensated for the increased risk and exposure their officer suffered in order to keep the peace during our national emergency?
Public Safety Officer Benefits (PSOB) have been awarded many times when it could be shown the officer lost their lives as a result of an infectious disease contracted from an on-duty exposure. An example of this would be a deadly accidental needle stick. This situation is not new.
If an officer, while performing their law enforcement duties, contracts COVID-19 from someone who is known to have the virus, and there is documented evidence of that exposure, the current PSOB Law would apply.
For this reason, all officers who know they have been exposed to the virus on duty should document the details of that exposure.
The challenging part of this issue is the silent nature of COVID-19 among those who are carriers of the disease but show no symptoms.
Documenting exposure to COVID-19 could be difficult. To address this challenge, a legislative change could be proposed saying, in essence, if a law enforcement officer was working in the capacity of interacting with the public during the same time period private citizens were urged or directed to stay home, and the officer later contracted and died as a result of COVID-19, their death could be “presumed” to have occurred as a result of a call for service.
Pat Yoes, the National President of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), speaks on behalf of the law enforcement professionals his organization represents when he suggests presumptive legislation.
He says:
“There is little question that based on the nature of our jobs, we will be disproportionately affected by COVID-19, especially without access to PPE. Like our medical service counterparts, we will be in direct physical contact with infected persons without the benefit of a hospital environment or PPE.
We will get sick at a much greater rate than other workforces. Officers will need to quarantine as well. This is already happening nationwide.
Our officers will be working long hours as shifts turn into double shifts or even triple shifts to maintain peace in their communities. This may make them even more vulnerable to COVID-19.
Police officers do not have the luxury of social distancing. For the reasons stated, police officers are placing themselves in harm’s way in the protection of their communities.
For this, there must be a commitment from our government. We encourage the federal government to issue an order calling for first responders to have a line-of-duty presumption when diagnosed with COVID-19.”
As a country, we need to recognize the sacrifices that the families of so many law enforcement officers make each time their officer leaves their home to go to work. And again when the officer comes home, potentially affecting the health of their own families.
These are uncertain times. I have no doubt hard, but necessary, conversations will follow months from now concerning benefits for those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
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