56% of CSPD staff receive exemption from mask mandate

EDITOR NOTE: An original version of this story used the 2021 City of Colorado Springs amended budget to calculate the number of Colorado Springs Police Department employees. Colorado Springs Police provided an updated figure Wednesday morning.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The deadline for Colorado Springs Police Department employees to either be vaccinated against COVID or wear a mask happened Monday, Oct. 18.

According to CSPD, the department has 1,124 employees. Out of those employees, CSPD told KRDO 634 have provided proof of vaccination or received an exemption for the mask mandate, as of Tuesday. That equates to about 56% of employees.

"CSPD does not track vaccination numbers," Lt. James Sokolik said. "Employees were required to wear masks starting on the 18th of October unless they received an exemption or provided proof of vaccination."

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has said it is developing a rule that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to mandate the vaccine for workers or submit to daily covid testing. That rule will reportedly be finalized soon. That rule will apply to the department, CSPD has more than 650 officers.

KRDO first reported on Sept. 28 that 66% of the Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) employees had shown proof of vaccination. Those figures were in line with El Paso County vaccination rates at the time. Now, CSFD is reporting 69% of employees have provided proof of vaccination. CSFD also has a mask mandate for employees who are not vaccinated.

Barring any policy changes by departments or federal mandates, City of Colorado Springs employees would not be forced to choose between getting vaccinated or keeping their job.

However, despite not tracking employees' vaccination status, CSPD is experiencing an officer shortage.

In July, CSPD Chief Vince Niski told KRDO that the department was already down 80 police officers, and had fewer applicants than in previous years.

"We’re a little concerned because normally at the end of a process, an application process, we’d have about 1,200-1,300 applicants," Niski said. "This last week when it closed, we had about 851."

According to Niski, at full strength, CSPD has 786 officers. As of July, they were down to 704. Niski said CSPD hopes to fill a class of 72 officers next April.