CHICAGO — Officer Mahir “Mike” Affaneh panicked after he heard Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot make a statement in October that officers might have to go on a no-pay status if they refused to be vaccinated.
Affaneh, 53, who had worked as a Chicago police officer for 26 years, had not had the shot at the time and couldn’t afford to go without pay. So two days later, he retired.
It was a hasty decision that he now regrets, he said, but it made him one of more than 660 Chicago police officers who retired and collected their pensions in 2021, according to data from the Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago. The number is about double from 2018, when about 350 officers retired and collected their pensions.
