With a new
lockdown order looming in California over a reported spike in
COVID-19 cases and hospital beds filling up, the state’s far-left
Gov. Gavin Newsom won’t be getting much help enforcing his new
restrictions from Southern California sheriffs.
What are the details?
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva
told KTTV-TV he won’t be enforcing Newsom’s order on
businesses, many of which will be forced to close when ICU bed
capacity hits a certain threshold. The governor’s new order
officially goes into effect at 1 p.m. Saturday, the station
said.
Villanueva added to the station that business enforcement is the
health department’s job.
“I want to stay away from businesses that are trying to comply
the best they can,” he said.
“They bent over backwards to modify their entire operation to
conform to these current health orders, and then they have the rug
yanked out from under them — that’s a disservice,” he also told
KTTV. “I don’t want to make their lives any more miserable.”
Villanueva also told the station there was no coordination
regarding the new order — and he actually learned about it from
Newsom’s news conference.
“Anything that has to do with enforcement, you’ve got to make
sure you’re working in partnership with all the people carrying out
the enforcement,” Villanueva said.
But Newsom also is threatening to pull pandemic relief funds
from counties refusing to comply with his new orders, the station
added.
“If you’re unwilling to enforce the rules, if you’re unwilling
to adopt the protocols to support the mitigation and the reduction
and spread of this disease, we’re happy to redirect those dollars
to counties that feel differently,” Newsom noted, according to
KTTV. “That’s exactly what we’ve done.”
What did other sheriffs have to say?
Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayum issued a statement to the
station regarding Newsom’s order: “Our approach to enforcement of
the continuously evolving health orders has not changed from the
onset of the pandemic. Our approach is one of educating the public
of the health orders and encouraging compliance with them.
Enforcement has always been an option for our staff to use with
considerable discretion. However, our primary goal is to seek
voluntary compliance whenever possible.”
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department offered a
statement to KTTV saying its deputies won’t respond to calls
regarding Newsom’s new order: “As has been the case since we were
initially faced with the difficulties of living and working through
this pandemic together, our goal is to educate and gain voluntary
compliance regarding Public Health orders. We will continue to
partner with our communities and deliver the law enforcement
services they deserve while keeping health and safety of our staff
and those we serve as a top priority.”
The station said sheriffs from Orange and Riverside counties
pointed to their
previous statements about refusing to enforce the governor’s curfew
order.
