Police officers in Miramar who call out sick will now get a home visit from a supervisor, a move the police union president is calling a morale killer.
A June 4 memo from Miramar Police Chief Delrish Moss announced the new policy.
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WATCH HERE"Effective immediately, all supervisors are required to conduct a home visit for every individual who calls in sick," the memo reads, in part. "This measure is intended to ensure integrity of sick leave usage and maintain departmental accountability."
Moss defended the policy on Friday.
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"We had a situation when I first got here where several people called in sick and we kind of found out that a bunch of them were hanging out because they wanted to watch a game," Moss said. "And that cost us money in my first year here, we wanna make sure that those things are not happening."
The policy is also being put in place to ensure officers' wellbeing, Moss said.
He pointed to a situation back in 2014, when Miami Police Officer Carl Patrick was shot in the shoulder area by his live-in girlfriend.
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Police said she never called 911 and she took Patrick’s phone away so he couldn’t call for help either.
Police found him dead inside his home. They said at the time that had he gotten medical attention he would have survived.
But the police officers' union isn't happy with the new policy, saying in a statement it's being used to "harass" officers.
"Instead of addressing the alarming rate of officer departures and low staffing levels, the Chief of Police is doubling down on policies that harass officers for using their earned benefits," the statement read. "This isn’t just bad leadership — it’s a direct hit to morale and puts public safety at risk by pulling even more cops off the street."
Union President Brent Steffan said it also calls into question the department's trust in its officers.
"It is amazing that you have police officers, again from one year on to 28 years who you don’t trust enough to say that they are out sick, but you trust them enough to patrol and keep your community safe, there is a disconnect there," Steffan said.
