NEW YORK — Some undercover officers with NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau have reportedly been threatened with demotion if they continue to refuse the COVID-19 vaccination since they can’t set up sting operations in restaurants without a vaccination card, the New York Post reported.
There are at least 10 personnel across the IAB unit who were allegedly told by Deputy Commissioner of Internal Affairs Joseph Reznick that they would be reassigned back to a precinct if they didn’t get the shot, police sources told the Post.
“He’s doing it because if they are going to set up cops, they need vaccination cards to go into restaurants and they don’t have it,” a source said.
According to the source, Reznick also threatened the undercover personnel with an administrative transfer, which “kills their careers because they are known as a rat.”
“No one will want to work with them,” the source said.
NYPD does not have a vaccine mandate in place. Yet as of mid-August, patrons are required to show proof of vaccination in order to enter indoor settings in the city.
“These allegations are completely fabricated and utterly false,” said NYPD spokesman Sgt. Edward Riley.
Although Commissioner Dermot Shea said publicly he supports a vaccine mandate for the department, he has not issued the order, instead putting the responsibility on lawmakers to make that decision, the Post reported.
The Police Benevolent Association and the Detective Endowment Association, the unions which represent the officers, did not immediately respond to the news outlet for comment.
NYPD’s vaccination rate of its workforce — which includes just under 35,000 uniformed officers and nearly 18,000 civilian employees — was 64 percent, as of Tuesday, Shea said on NY1.
