Toronto-area cop ends his long career in protest of vaccination mandates
Just days after canned cop and son-in-law of Ontario premier Doug Ford handed in his badge over his refusal to abide by the Toronto Police vaccination mandate, another cop in the region is making a publicized exit from law enforcement over similar beliefs.
Former Detective Constable Michael Rapson left his job with York Regional Police on Sunday after over 16 years on the force, and just like the high-profile departure of Ford in-law Sergeant Dave 'Juggernaut' Haynes of 31 Division, the cop's exit from policing was accompanied by a longwinded social media post.
In the IG post shared on Monday, Rapson tells his over 3K followers that "In a Leap of Faith, I have decided to move on from Policing," leaving YRP after joining the force in 2005, following in his father's footsteps.
But Rapson has chosen his side on recent events, saying he can "no longer accept" what is being asked of him and speaking of his unwillingness to assume the risks of policing for a system he considers "so broken, and so divided."
It is unclear from Rapson's statement whether he himself is vaccinated, though he leaves no question as to his views on law enforcement and healthcare workers being fired for not fulfilling their employers' obligations to be inoculated against the virus.
Rapson says that he is "incredibly sad for anyone who has been suspended without pay, fired, or had their businesses shut down due to lockdowns or a medical choice," though he makes no mention anywhere in his 374-word statement of the rising case counts and hospitalizations, Omicron variant, or the essential workers who enthusiastically jumped at the chance to be vaccinated.
After saying his heart goes out to nurses, Rapson claims that "the division being handed down by our Government officials is nothing short of barbaric," though it could easily be argued that letting unvaccinated healthcare workers near vulnerable patients is also a fitting use of the word barbaric.
His words appear to echo those in the so-called "freedom movement" that has become inextricably linked to groups fighting vaccine and lockdown mandates, telling followers, "What is happening in society, our hospitals, and in policing, in my eyes is an absolute violation of our rights. Our Human rights, Charter rights, and more importantly a violation of our God given rights to live free."
The post states that Rapson is moving on to pursue real estate, working with his realtor wife in the next chapter of his life.
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