The Las Vegas police union has warned that the Las Vegas Raiders and the NFL will stop providing security information for games if new requirements for officers to provide biometric data to the league go into effect.
The NFL recently required all game-day staff, including contractors and non-employees, to submit biometric data, including a facial image, through an approved app before being allowed into the stadium.
But the police union representing Las Vegas police officers has warned officials that its members won’t comply with the new security requirements — and would not show up to Raiders home games at Allegiant Stadium if they had to.
At issue is the league’s close ties to a number of anti-police groups, and police officials fear the data could fall into the hands of these left-wing organizations and be used as a weapon against police.
Steve Grammas, president of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, recently sent the video to his members, saying he doesn’t support handing their data over to the NFL and putting it in the hands of “strangers.”
“If you’re like me, you don’t want your biometric data in the hands of strangers,” Gramas says in a video posted by TMZ.
in Interview and Las Vegas Review-Journal, Grammas added that he did not want officer data to fall into the hands of “anti-police” people who could “target and harass police officers simply for doing their jobs.”
Grammas suggested exempting police officers from the NFL’s new security protocols and issuing them identification wristbands instead.
But for now, the NFL doesn’t appear to be changing its plans.
“The authentication system will enhance security at our stadiums, and we look forward to working with all parties involved to address any questions or concerns,” NFL communications director Tim Schlittner said in a statement.
Gramus concluded that if the policy is fully implemented, officers would not be on duty at Allegiant Stadium for Raiders games.
The NFL has worked with numerous groups critical of police, including one championed by former NFL quarterback and social justice warrior Colin Kaepernick.
The league has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to anti-police groups such as the Vera Institute of Justice, the Oregon Justice Resource Center and the Community Justice Exchange, which support defunding and abolishing police.
The NFL has given the go-ahead for 1990s rapper Dr. Dre to include anti-police lyrics in the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show.
It seems like this could also be an issue for other police departments that provide security at NFL stadiums across the U.S., though as of this writing it’s unclear if other police departments or the unions that represent them are considering a boycott.
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