DeSantis is a Talent Poaching Virtuoso

Police officers who risk getting fired for failing to either get vaccinated or disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status, have an opportunity to work in Florida under Gov. Ron Desantis' new cop recruitment move.

He hopes to sign legislation that gives disgruntled and unhappy cops from outside states a $5,000 signing bonus, as an incentive to join the Lakeland Police Department. "If you're not being treated well, we'll treat you better here, you can fill important needs for us," the governor said.

"We're, if truth be told, actively operating to recruit out-of-state regulation enforcement as a result of we do have wishes," the Republican governor said in a previous interview. "So in our subsequent legislative consultation, I'm going to optimistically signal law that provides an advantage to any out-of-state regulation enforcement that relocates in Florida."

This follows President Joe Biden's announcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) new federal law, mandating all large employers to have their staff vaccinated.

Targeted states include New York, Minneapolis, and Seattle, where city workers, including police officers, firefighters, and nurses have been mandated to get the COVID-19 vaccine or face mandatory unpaid leave. Several police unions have challenged this directive, including Seattle, Chicago and Baltimore.

Chicago Mayor, Lori Lightfoot may be facing a court battle with the Fraternal Order of Police over the enforcement of this legislation. Los Angeles police chief Michel Moore said that the antibodies provided by the vaccines will save the city officials' lives and those of their families. "We want to make sure they're educated, we want to make sure they're following the science," Moore said. "Ultimately, the vaccine mandate that the city is imposing on all of its employees, I think it will help."

In Los Angeles, unvaccinated city staff without the proper exemption documents must be vaccinated or lose their jobs by December 18th. About 70% of the Los Angeles Police Department has been vaccinated.

Gov. Desantis claims in several interviews that mandated vaccination is unconstitutional, and whether or not an individual should get the jab should be left as a personal decision.

"It will wreak havoc on the economy, because even if a small percentage of these folks end up losing their jobs or voluntarily walking away, you're going to have huge disruption in medical, in logistics, in law enforcement'" the governor said. "And so, in Florida, our policy is very clear: We're going to have a special session, and we're going to say nobody should lose their job based off these injections," he added.

Desantis extended this offer to other essential workers, including nurses. In his words, he said, "These people we've been hailing as heroes, the nurses we've said have been heroes, this whole time, they've been working day in and day out," he said. "They couldn't do their job on Zoom. They had to be there and they did it, and they did it with honor and integrity. Now you have people that want to kick them out of their job over this shot, which is basically a personal decision."

Desantis, however, states that his recent police recruitment move is not meant as a cop poaching exercise, but to fill the much needed posts in the Lakeland Police Department. "It will be available to anyone who comes. If people are saying it's a vaccine issue, it's not. It has nothing to do with that," he said, after an economic event in Venice.

Governor Desantis isn't the first leader to attempt this exercise. Recently, Indiana senator Mike Braun also invited Chicago law enforcement officers who don't wish to get vaccinated, to work in his state. "Come on in to Indiana, we are a state of choice and free enterprise," He told Fox News in an interview. "You'll have choices individually."

Who could've guessed politicians would show the recruiting industry how things are done?