Protecting those who protect the public during a deadly pandemic

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    SHREVEPORT, LA (KTBS) — Law enforcement officers take a risk every time they put on the uniform, but now a new risk has led to an increase in officer deaths this year.

According to the Officers Down Memorial Page, 206 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30. That’s up 86 percent from all of 2019.

More that half of those deaths — 114 of them — are attributed to COVID-19.

Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator takes the numbers with a grain of salt.

“I was really surprised,” Prator said. “It’s a hard statistic to really understand because there’s so much presumption in there. Somebody might have gone out to eat with their wife the night before, and then contracted COVID. And the next day come to work, and then two days later come down with it.”

Still, Prator understands why law enforcement officers face a greater risk of contracting the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

“Every family fight they go to, every bank robbery — every situation we go to where there’s something going on, the deputies know, ‘I’m risking my life for the community,’” Prator said. “That’s the same mindset they have with COVID.”

Prator and Bossier Parish Sheriff Julian Whittington supply and require masks for their entire force. Sometimes, however, they said duty gets in the way of a deputy’s ability to protect themselves from COVID-19.

“We don’t have a choice,” Whittington said. “If someone calls in, we don’t ask them — ‘If you have COVID, we’re not going to help you.’ We respond to everything, irregardless.”

“(When) push comes to shove, we’ve got to go out there when somebody has a bad wreck, they’ve got to pull them out of the wreck, we forgot our mask in the car… We’re going to pull them out,” Prator said.

Both sheriffs have implemented policies and made investments that work for their respective agencies. Caddo has new equipment that can sanitize a patrol vehicle in under two minutes. Whittington designated a single vehicle that is used to transport suspects to jail.

“Rather than every deputy having to transport a prisoner in their car, and you have to sanitize so many cars, you just have a transport vehicle,” Whittington said. “When someone is arrested, that officer is prepared, he goes, he picks up the prisoner and takes him, and he has his van cleaned. So you’re limiting to one instead of possibly everybody on patrol.”

In September, Whittington said eight Bossier deputies tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Around the same time, the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office reported 35 cases.

No law enforcement officers in northwest Louisiana have died from complications of the virus.

Public information officers with the Shreveport and Bossier City Police Departments declined requests for interviews with the chiefs. Both sent emails saying officers are required to wear masks and socially distance when possible, and sanitizing measures are also in place.

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