More than a week after Colin Kaepernick expressed to the media that he would exercise his right of free speech and not stand for the national anthem, another police union has ripped Kaepernick for his actions and comments he has made criticizing police officers.
The Santa Clara Police Department provides close to 75 officers a game of security for the stadium. The security officers volunteer and are then paid as if they were security guards. Frank Saunders, president of the Santa Clara Police Officers Association, said some of the guards may not show up to work next week when the San Francisco 49ers and Kaepernick kick off the season.
"I'm already hearing it this week that next week on 'Monday Night Football,' some officers are not going to work," Saunders said.
Saunders said that Kaepernick and the 49ers have created a hostile work environment.
“The 49ers are allowing this to come out from an employee and it’s making for a hostile work environment for us at the stadium,” he said.
Earlier in the week, the San Francisco Police Union issued a similar statement after Kaepernick made inflammatory comments about the police.
"Perhaps Mr. Kaepernick could comment on the murder of 40 police officers in the United States in the past few months, or the assaults perpetrated on over 100,000 law enforcement officers in the past year," the union said.
“Perhaps he could lend his commentary to the over 8,000 murders that African-Americans inflicted on one another in 2015. The law enforcement community cannot be continuously blamed for all of society’s problems, including racial divide, in our country. It isn’t fair and it isn’t true.”
In response to growing criticism about his decision to sit out the national anthem, Kaepernick has pledged to donate $1 million to community charities across the country.
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