[dropcap size=big]C[/dropcap]hief Michel Moore said the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) saw a “substantial” increase in COVID-19 transmission this Tuesday during a Los Angeles Police Commission meeting. In a week, 84 officers tested positive for the virus compared with 45 officers last week, nearly doubling new cases. Moore called the Central Area Community Police Station a “hot spot if you will” during the meeting. In a week, 26 officers at the station in Skid Row tested positive for COVID.
But according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health website, only two LAPD stations are experiencing a cluster of cases as of publishing. The central area station that Moore described as a hotspot isn’t mentioned on their list of businesses and other settings currently experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak (defined as three or more cases among staff). The health department lists just 15 cases between LAPD’s West Valley Station and Rampart Station, as of August 24.
Only five additional cases have been added to the list of outbreaks at LAPD facilities in the last week. An indication that COVID cases are either not being reported to the health department or there is some sort of a lag between when the LAPD confirms cases and they’re reported as outbreaks.
For some Los Angeles community members, the lack of transparency associated with outbreaks at police facilities raises concerns. Cops are regularly documented interacting with public members without wearing masks (despite Chief Moore’s order to do so). LAPD vaccination rates hover just over 50 percent, although officers became eligible for inoculation back in winter.
“The baseline concern is that these are public employees, so our tax dollars are paying them,” said Adam Smith, an organizer with White People For Black Lives. “So logically, the community that’s employing them should have a general idea of where these outbreaks are taking place.” Smith regularly tunes into the weekly Police Commission meetings, during which Chief Moore gives an update on the new COVID cases. He began noticing a discrepancy in the number of reported cases versus the number of outbreaks weeks ago. “Folks should know where these outbreaks are popping up.”