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Written by APB Staff
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In Buffalo New York, cops are feeling sick. The question is whether they have a stomach bug or they’re just sick and tired of their frozen wages.
Two dozen police officers are accused of coming down with a case of the "blue flu."
Seventeen officers from the same district who recently called in sick over a two-day period were ordered to appear in court and explain their actions.
Officers could lose as much as two days' pay for each day out or be found in contempt of a court order prohibiting the action.
Police Benevolent Association President Robert Meegan defended the officers. "These officers called in sick because they were sick," Meegan said. "That's the bottom line."
Mayor Byron Brown said police officers received warnings about calling out sick as a form of protest while rumors of a job action were everywhere in the city.
The city has obtained a temporary restraining order barring any police officer from participating in a work stoppage after two-thirds of officers, about 17 people, called in sick in the Northwest District.
"It is not mere coincidence that 17 officers in the same district would collectively and suddenly take ill the same week of the rumored 'blue flu,'" Lukasiewicz said.
Local police are furious over the fact that their wages have been frozen over the last three years. Officers had been scheduled to receive 3.4 percent raises in each of the last three years but no such luck.
The alleged sickout came as thousands of college basketball fans and players were in Buffalo for the NCAA Basketball Tournament and St. Patrick's Day festivities.
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