Petaluma Police Chief counters Sheriff’s opposition to health orders

Petaluma Police Chief Ken Savano Thursday reaffirmed that his department would enforce county shelter in place orders after Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said his department would no longer enforce Health Officer Sundari Mase’s orders.|

Petaluma Police Chief Ken Savano Thursday reaffirmed that his department would enforce county shelter in place orders after Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said his department would no longer enforce Health Officer Sundari Mase’s orders, a decision that drew criticism from several local officials, including Petaluma’s mayor, who called for Essick’s resignation.

“As your Police Chief, I want to assure you that the City of Petaluma’s highest priority is the health and safety of our community,” Savano wrote in a post on Nixle. “This has been our focus well before the Shelter-in-Place orders were issued, and will continue to be our mission.”

Earlier Thursday Essick, an elected official, took to social media to oppose local measures aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic - measures that Essick said were out of step with state rules.

“The curve has been flattened; hospitals were not overrun with patients; we have dramatically increased testing which verified the infection rate in Sonoma County is under control and decreasing,” Essick said in a statement posted to social. “Yet we continue to see successive public health orders that contain inconsistent restrictions on business and personal activities without explanation.”

On Friday, there were conflicting reports with Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Susan Gorin saying that Essick is reversing his stance against enforcing the stay-at-home rules, while the Sheriff’s Facebook page said: “Contrary to other reports the Sheriff is not reversing his position.”

The rare discord between two top local law enforcement officials came one day after county supervisors gave public support for Mase’s decision to pause the county’s reopening for up to 14 days after reporting a recent rise in local COVID-19 cases, increased person-to-person transmission of the contagion and a spike in hospitalizations.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued a series of new guidelines in recent weeks allowing for more activities, from barber shops to church services, to resume in counties that meet certain criteria. But he has left it up to county health officers to set local rules and keep restrictions in place depending on regional factors like transmission rates and public health preparedness.

Overall, the case rate in Sonoma County is low with only 2.3% of the 23,362 tests returning positive results for COVID-19 since testing began in March. But new cases have doubled over the last two weeks, and there have been recent outbreaks of illness at a manufacturing plant, among groups of farmworkers and at a local elderly residential care facility, according to Mase.

Savano’s statement was in direct contrast to Essick, who said that effective Monday, deputies will be ordered to weigh reports of violations against state guidelines and “educate people on how to mitigate the risk and spread of the COVID-19 infection.” Jail staff will no longer book people arrested by any agency when the sole charge is a violation of the county’s public health order.

Savano said Petaluma Police would continue to issue citations if people do not voluntarily comply with county health orders.

“I want to be clear to those we serve, the City of Petaluma will continue to follow the lawful health orders issued by the Sonoma County Public Health Officer,” Savano wrote. “As we have done from the beginning, we will continue to educate our community members and encourage voluntary compliance. If someone refuses our education and public awareness efforts and they place our community members at risk, we will issue a written notice of violation, followed by a criminal citation. If violations continue, additional charges will be filed with the Sonoma County District Attorney’s office.”

Essick’s decision triggered a staunch rebuke from Petaluma’s mayor, county supervisors and the district attorney, even as it appeared to tap into widespread frustration over restrictions that have halted commerce and caused an economic recession. Nearly 4 million Californians filed jobless claims in March and April.

Petaluma Mayor Teresa Barrett called on Essick to resign.

“Essick’s actions are reckless and, clearly not well thought out,” she said in a statement. “He directly called for increasing the risk of all front-line workers, including his own deputies, whose jobs already place them at higher risk of disease. In addition, he endangers marginalized communities whose infection rates are already Sonoma County’s highest. That our county sheriff would issue his statement throwing up his hands and refusing to do the job he was elected to do has deep consequences. Whether unwittingly or knowingly stoking divisiveness, he is contributing to divisions that are harming our community and nation. Neither is acceptable. ‘Oops’ is insufficient. He needs to go.”

Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Susan Gorin called Essick’s announcement “tone deaf” and criticized him for failing to address his concerns with the health department. Gorin noted the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus among Latino residents - who represent 27% of the county population and 70% of COVID-19 cases - should be a call for concern and caution.

“The sheriff’s department is apparently not concerned about the public health of our community,” Gorin said.

Savano urged people to continue taking measures that have helped to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

“Together we have significantly slowed the spread and I am confident we can all continue to maintain self-discipline with regard to precautions and guidelines recommended by the CDC, State of California Department of Public Health, and the County of Sonoma Public Health,” he wrote. “Together we will emerge an even better, stronger, and healthier community.”

(Press Democrat Staff Writer Julie Johnson contributed to this report. Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)

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