Police and prison guards much less vaccinated than California public, analysis shows

Several major California law enforcement agencies are reporting Covid-19 vaccination rates that are significantly lower than those of the general population, and seven state prisons have disclosed that less than a third of their officers are vaccinated.
The Guardian requested vaccine data from police departments in Californias 20 largest cities and the top 10 largest sheriffs departments in the state and reviewed reports from the California department of corrections and rehabilitation (CDCR).
The majority of police and sheriffs departments declined to share statistics, but the ones that replied appeared to have vaccination rates that were markedly lower than their surrounding communities, raising significant public health concerns as the Delta variant of the coronavirus surges and lawmakers debate vaccine mandates for government employees.
Some of the states lowest law enforcement vaccination rates exist in the highest-risk settings the California prison system which has suffered repeated catastrophic Covid-19 outbreaks that have so far infected nearly 50,000 people behind bars, resulting in 235 deaths.
Inside Californias prisons
Across CDCRs 35 prisons, roughly 34,500 employees, or 52% of staff, were fully vaccinated as of Friday, according to a state count. The numbers are worse for guards only 40% of prison officers are fully vaccinated, a federal monitor reported earlier this month.
About 73,000 incarcerated people have gotten vaccinated, representing 73% of prisoners, according to CDCR. (Across California, 64% of the eligible public was fully vaccinated as of Friday.)
CDCR cautions that its data on staff vaccinations is incomplete, because the department does not track staff vaccinated in facilities outside of work. But the low numbers are concerning enough that J Clark Kelso, the federal monitor overseeing prison healthcare, cited them in his recent plea to a judge that vaccines be required for all staff.
The data shows vaccination rates differing significantly from facility to facility. High Desert state prison in northern California has the lowest rates, with only 16% of officers fully vaccinated, Kelso reported. In six other prisons, the rate for guards is at or below 30%. He said the rates were unacceptably low, adding that with Delta spread, the risk now is grave.
The low staff vaccination rates at some prisons appear to be roughly in line with the trends of their surrounding communities, which are rural and more conservative than Californias large cities.
At every major prison, incarcerated people are inoculated at higher rates than their guards, who were some of the first workers eligible for vaccination last year.
Across police and sheriffs departments
The Los Angeles police department (LAPD) reported that 51.8% of its employees were partially or fully vaccinated as of 8 June, the latest data available, according to a department spokesperson. By that week in June, 65% of eligible residents in the broader LA population had received at least one dose.
The LA sheriffs department (LASD), run by a sheriff who has criticized mask mandates, said roughly 26% of its staff were vaccinated at LASD clinics, but said it had not asked employees if they got vaccinated elsewhere. The county has reported major staff outbreaks at local jails run by LASD in recent weeks, with more than 1,600 employees infected.
In San Francisco law enforcement, the inoculation rates appear higher 79% of the sheriffs department and 80% of the police department were fully or partially vaccinated as of Friday, close to the 85% rate of the community, according to Mawuli Tugbenyoh, policy chief for the citys human resources department, which is tracking government vaccine rates.
In Alameda county, which includes Oakland, 56% of sheriffs department staff were vaccinated as of May, the latest data available. Community vaccination rates at the time stood at 71%.
In San Jose, the states third largest city, a survey in June found that 58% of police staff were vaccinated, compared with 68% in the region at the time. A spokesperson noted the survey was voluntary and that the numbers had since improved.
Other departments that provided vaccination rates for their sworn officers include Fremont (54%), Long Beach (51%) and Chula Vista (65%). Irvine police said 64% of all its staff were vaccinated, and the Ventura county sheriffs department said 87.2% of its staff were vaccinated.
Some major departments said they werent collecting the information, including in San Diego, Oakland, Sacramento, Fresno and Orange county. A Fontana police spokesman said: The vaccine is a personal choice, and a Riverside county sheriff spokesperson said the department did not track employee vaccination, because that is their personal medical history.
Their job is to protect and serve
While there have been concerns about vaccine resistance across professions, including hospital staff and other government workers, low vaccination rates for officers and prison guards are especially alarming given the nature of their work, experts and family members of incarcerated Californians said.
People come into contact with police against their will, oftentimes in close quarters, said Vida B Johnson, Georgetown University law professor and expert on policing. Their job is to protect and serve I do think its putting the greater community at risk.
Experts said the vaccine resistance among police was not entirely surprising given that a handful of sheriffs and police leaders in the state have at times expressed skepticism about Covid science and in one case made false claims about the vaccine.
William Gude, an activist and LAPD critic who runs social media accounts called @FilmThePoliceLA, noted that the low vaccination rates among police officers in the region come while Covid has killed far more police than any other line-of-duty death in 2020. Ten LAPD employees have died from Covid, and in recent weeks more than 80 personnel were home recovering from the virus.
Gude also said he regularly documented officers failing to wear masks, even indoors. When you look at the number of interactions that officers have during the course of the day, and the fact that theyre not vaccinated, and theyre not wearing masks, and they have such a high infection rate, they have the potential to be superspreaders, said Gude, who shared with the Guardian several videos he had taken from the last week of maskless LAPD officers in close contact with civilians, including while arresting them or in a car with them.
Members of the LAPD leave headquarters. Photograph: Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times/REX/Shutterstock
Gude has filed dozens of complaints with LAPD about maskless officers, but in June received a reply from the LAPD chief, Michel Moore, saying the investigation concluded that employees actions could have been different, but that it was a non-disciplinary matter. LAPD declined to comment on Gudes complaints.
April Harris, a 45-year-old woman incarcerated at the California Institution for Women (CIW) in the city of Corona, outside of LA, said it felt like once again we are sitting ducks.
Being in such a confined environment I am fully aware that an outbreak could occur at any moment, said Harris, who got Covid last May, one of nearly 500 people infected at CIW. Harris has since been vaccinated. CIW has reported 11 staff infections in the last two weeks.
Fresh outbreaks raise fears that prisons could once again shut down visitation, which only resumed in April after families were cut off for more than a year: Families barely survived that isolation, said Keith Wattley, executive director of UnCommon Law, who represents incarcerated people.
The state and some municipalities are already pushing requirements that some public employees either be vaccinated or regularly tested. But law enforcement unions have strongly opposed mandates. The SF sheriffs union recently threatened mass resignations if vaccines were required. The state is also considering requiring all prison guards be vaccinated (without an option for a testing alternative), but the correctional officers union said it would file legal challenges.
Malinda Jones, 66, who is incarcerated at CIW, told the Guardian she strongly supported a mandate for guards, noting that she still frequently saw them maskless inside the institution, at times refusing to put masks on even when prisoners requested it: It feel like were disposable. This is frightening. Jones said her facility had to lock down and conduct quarantines recently due to staff infections: The staff are the ones bringing Covid in. Were not making them sick they are making us sick.
A CDCR spokesperson said prisons continued to support masking at all times, along with with regular testing and free vaccines. The agency reported 544 new cases among prison employees over the last two weeks.
Kirsten Roehler, whose elderly father is incarcerated in a state prison in LA county, also supports a mandate, fearing that a breakthrough infection could kill her father. The 78-year-old was recently diagnosed with kidney cancer and also lives with lung disease and other serious health problems, she said. He was hospitalized with Covid in December and has since been vaccinated. Due to his medical needs, he is often transported in vehicles with staff who Roehler fears are not vaccinated.
It is the states job to take care of these people, she said, adding: We know how to prevent these deaths. Everyone coming in and out of those gates has to be vaccinated.read more