MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - Hundreds of Miami-Dade police officers upset over Dolphins players protesting the National Anthem had planned a protest of their own, Sunday. However, a mandate from the police director will require many of those officers to work the same game they were planning to skip in protest.
The Dolphins will face the Jets for the second time in a month, and officials said there will be fully-staffed security in and around Hard Rock Stadium.
A total of 380 officers are needed for any given game. This week, only 175 signed up for off-duty assignment.
“We have the right to work a voluntary job or not,” said Miami-Dade PBA President John Rivera, “and so we support those officers that were OK with working it, as well as we were supporting the officers that didn’t want to work it for whatever reason.”
A mandate has been ordered by Juan Perez, Director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, requiring officers to work the game.
“I am now faced with a critical dilemma as the staffing shortages place our community and fellow officers at risk,” said Perez. “The worst scenario we can experience is a successful terrorist attack or active shooter scenario due to a vulnerability of security.”
Perez added, “I made the decision to mandate officers to work the game under operational necessity.”
“I think that the director’s words and memo was on point. We certainly appreciate it,” said Rivera. “We had a conversation, and he expressed his concerns, and we expressed ours.”
Some Dolphins players are no longer kneeling but rather staying in the stadium tunnel until after the anthem is performed.
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