Many police departments are saying they’ll be enforcing shelter-in-place “rules” this weekend. Could you be stopped and questioned simply for being out of your home? Should you report people who are outdoors? Be sure to check local news sources; here’s a sampling of what we found happening around the country …
Can You Be Arrested For Not Sheltering In Place?
Local police departments warn to follow shelter-in-place order
Mar 26, 2020
BRYAN, Tex. (KBTX) – Law enforcement is warning residents to abide by the new shelter in place guidelines for COVID-19.
Area agencies tell KBTX they are still seeing people out and about not following the temporary rules.
Bryan and College Station Police says they want people to take this shelter in place serious. On Wednesday CSPD had 10 to 15 complaints of people violating the order. BPD said they’ve had had eight or so calls with questions or reporting violations.
Residents are asked to avoid unnecessary trips or being out in public.
The streets are less busy around Bryan/College Station with shelter in-place in effect to reduce the spread of COVID-19. On Thursday, most of the people we saw in neighborhoods were exercising. They included Katy Adams and her 7-year-old Jaxon of Bryan.
Exercising is ok, but Katy is taking the other shelter in place rules seriously.
“Even though if you’re not concerned for yourself be concerned for others and just stay home if you can. My husband and I are working from home right now so we’re trying to abide by those rules as well,” said Katy.
Local police departments say you should be out only for essential needs or your work.
“We are one big community, one big family and if we don’t solve this together, it’s our problem together. So we are asking for voluntary compliance from everyone from the young to the old,” said Officer Kelley McKethan with the Bryan Police Department. “Stay home. Don’t get out unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
McKethan added they aren’t pulling over vehicles without probable cause … Read more.
San Francisco Police To Enforce Shelter-In-Place Orders This Weekend
Mar 27, 2020
(KRON) — “We are going to have to make some changes.”
At a news conference Friday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the bad behavior that occurred last weekend cannot repeat itself this weekend.
“We saw a number of areas in our city that were jam packed and people playing volley ball and basketball,” Breed said.
The mayor said social distancing and stay-at-home orders must be followed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
And to that end, parking lots at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, the Marina Green, and Crissy Field’s east beach have been closed. Outdoor fitness sites are now off limits, and so are neighborhood playgrounds.
“What we want people to do is stay at home and when they need air, walk outside and go to a park near your neighborhood,” Breed said. “Please don’t get in your car and drive.”
Police will be controlling the overcrowded hot spots and may shift their focus from education to enforcement.
“For those who have been warned repeatedly, there will come a time when we will have to enforce that’s just a fact of life,” San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said. Read more.
Here’s the difference between shelter-in-place and quarantine, and what police can enforce
Mar 26, 2020
AZCentral.com – On March 19, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all 40 million people in the state to shelter in place as health officials battle the new coronavirus.
Two days later, Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker ordered his state’s 12.7 million residents to also shelter in place.
Since then, millions of people across at least 20 states have been given orders to shelter in place, restricting them from leaving their homes except to go to work if they can’t work from home, get food or see a doctor.
But Arizona, with a population of seven million, isn’t one of them.
A Scottsdale doctor has started an online petition, signed by more than 73,000 people as of Thursday morning, asking Ducey to “shut down” the state.
Gov. Doug Ducey has said we’re “not there yet.”
If Ducey were to call for a shelter-in-place order, it could limit Arizona residents’ liberties even more, some lawyers say. But during a pandemic, some of them also argue, the law is tipped in favor of public health.
Ducey has issued an executive order closing businesses such as bars, gyms and theatres and limiting restaurants to takeout. Through the order, police have the authority to issue misdemeanor citations to anyone who purposely defies it.
Ducey has also declared a state of emergency, which gives the state’s executive office power to quarantine people. This means if a person defies a doctor’s orders to stay isolated, either at home or at a hospital until they recover, then state officials can seek a court order to force them to stay isolated.
So far, people with the coronavirus have voluntarily self-quarantined and there has been no indication that Ducey plans to use the courts to forcefully isolate someone … Read more.
Missoula police release statement on shelter in place order
Mar 27 2020
MISSOULA, Mont. — Public safety and law enforcement will continue to be the Missoula Police Department’s top priorities. “What we are not doing is stopping people on the street to determine their business, or be the “social distance police,”” according to Public Information Officer Sgt. Travis Welsh.
The following statement was sent out by the Missoula Police Department:
Public Safety and Law Enforcement continue to be top priorities for the Missoula Police Department.
As such, we apply state and local laws where appropriate with the United States Constitution and our State Constitution in mind.
MPD Officers are out on patrol and responding to emergency calls for service, and ‘in-progress’ crimes.
What we are not doing is stopping people on the street to determine their business, or be the “social distance police.”
Rather, it is our focus to assist and educate our citizens on the directives, and provide assistance where possible for our citizens in relation to COVID-19 issues.
MPD is concerned about the well-being and safety of our community, and ask the community to voluntarily follow the orders for everyone’s health and safety. Source.
