What if police officers get sick? Stanislaus agencies prepare for coronavirus impacts
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Stanislaus County law enforcement agencies are asking people to use online and telephone reporting systems for non-emergency crimes and are developing plans on how to protect the community if officers start getting sick.
Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Lt. Josh Clayton said 911 dispatchers will refer callers to those reporting systems for crimes including burglaries not in progress, vandalism, fraud, theft and lost property but said deputies will “absolutely respond if needed or desired.”
He hopes the public will consider the high number of people with whom law enforcement comes into contact when deciding whether to request a deputy respond to their home.
Modesto Police Chief Galen Carroll said his officers are also still responding to all calls if requested but he’s advised them to avoid going into people’s homes if possible by requesting victims and witnesses speak with them outside or in other well ventilated areas.
“We understand a lot of times the public want to see an officer but it is also important that we have officers who are healthy to respond to emergency calls,” Carroll said.
He said if officers start getting sick and staffing levels drop he has developed a three-phase plan that involves taking officers out of special assignments and putting them back on patrol. Those assignments include the crime reduction team, gang officers and the traffic unit.
He said masks have been distributed to officers by the fire department and they are taking their lead on handling calls involving sick people.
“Worst-case scenario is everyone has to work 12 hours shifts without days off,” Carroll said.
Clayton said the Sheriff’s Department will respond to a staffing shortage in a similar way but one of its specialized units, the Special Investigations Unit, is essential because it is tasked with enforcing quarantines for the entire county.
“If someone is supposed to be quarantined and they are refusing to do so, there is a misdemeanor no-bail warrant we (can obtain in order to) arrest them and force them into quarantine,” he said.
The department is also taking steps to protect inmates in custody.
A jail expansion at the Sheriff’s Department’s Hackett Road campus completed a few years ago added a 57-bed medical unit that has the capacity to isolate 17 inmates, Clayton said. He said if there is a more widespread contamination, inmates in other parts of the facility can be kept on lockdown.
The Sheriff’s Department suspended in-person visitation at the 288-bed Re-Entry and Enhanced Alternatives to Custody Training Center (REACT) and will now only allow video visitation or visitation with glass partitions, which is what the other two facilities already do.
All volunteers and non-county employees are prohibited from entering the building.
At intake, people under arrest are now being screened for the coronavirus outdoors in the sally port and if anyone shows signs of infection, they will not be accepted. It will be up to the arresting agency to decide what to do with them, Clayton said, although it has not yet gotten to that point.
As anxiety increase over the spread of the coronavirus, Carroll said, “I get concerned that people are going to panic and that panic will lead them to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Be civil and remember we are all in this together; take care of each other.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 12:00 PM.
