Seattle police officers are fighting back against their state’s vaccine mandate by hanging Gadsden flags from the windows of their patrol cars.

“Some officers plan on taking time off to decide what they will do long term. They don’t seem eager to stay with SPD. Others explained that they are going to leave the SPD by the end of the year as a result of this,” KTTH radio show host Jason Rantz tweeted alongside the photos. “Officers took these photos in protest of the mandate.”

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Monday is the deadline for all Washington state employees to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19.

Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan has said that officers who do not comply will not face immediate firing, as they will instead face a “Loudermill hearing,” where the officers can publicly state why they refused to comply with the mandate before being formally separated from the force.

Fox News reported that one Seattle business owner spoke out to express his fears that the mandate will result in police staff shortages and longer waits for 911 calls.

“The tourists are not going to come. The people are not going to go out of their homes to buy things. It’s going to be like a ghost city,” said Maher Youssef, owner of Youssef’s Pluto Organic Café in Belltown.

“I feel like I’m on my own. I can’t get help from anywhere,” he added. “I just open the door every day and don’t know if I’m going to go home safe and good to my family or if something is going to happen.”

Earlier this month, thousands protested the vaccine mandate by gathering outside Washington state’s Capitol Building.

“We’re adults, and we know how to take care of ourselves,” Kelly Coyle, former state Department of Transportation employee, said during the protest. “I don’t believe you should force someone to inject something in their body that they don’t want and lose your livelihood.”

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Coyle added that she was forced to retire early over Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee’s vaccine mandate for state workers.

One Washington State Patrol officer went viral on Friday when he filmed himself saying that this would be his last day on the force because he was not getting vaccinated.

“I wish I could say more, but this is it so state 10-34, this is the last time you’ll hear me in a state patrol car. And Jay Inslee can kiss my a–,” said trooper Robert LaMay, adding that he was asked to leave “because I am dirty.”

This piece was written by James Samson on October 18, 2021. It originally appeared in RedVoiceMedia.com and is used by permission.

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