No infections in Petaluma Police Department

Police officers equipped with masks and gloves. Clorox disinfectant mats outside the police station. Department meetings held via conference call.

These are some of the measures the Petaluma Police Department has taken amid the coronavirus outbreak as officers patrol streets virtually deserted of people and largely devoid of crime.

As the Santa Rosa Police Department has been crippled by a COVID-19 outbreak among its ranks, including the death of one officer, Petaluma police officers are being extra cautious, said Police Chief Ken Savano.

“It was pretty real when Santa Rosa acknowledged their positive cases,” Savano said. “The loss of their officer was really sobering.”

Arrests have been down over the past month, but so has the amount of crime as non-essential businesses have closed and large gatherings of people have been outlawed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Petaluma still has the same number of officers patrolling the streets, Savano said, but they are more mindful about interactions with members of the public.

“We are trying to be thoughtful about limiting face-to-face contact with the public as much as possible,” he said. “There have been fewer calls for service. People are not out misbehaving.”

The department is still seeing a lot of calls for domestic disputes, Savano said, as residents have been cooped up inside under shelter-in-place orders for three weeks. The Sonoma County order will last until at least May 3.

Fewer calls have meant officers have more time to proactively police neighborhoods, Savano said. Before the lockdown, officers spent about six minutes of every hour patrolling the streets, and now that figure is more like 30 minutes per hour, he said.

In the early stages of the shutdown order, the department received several calls about non-essential businesses remaining open. Police have the ability to issue fines for non-compliance, but Petaluma officers’ first course of action is a warning. Savano said officers issued seven citations, and all of the businesses soon shutdown.

“We’re doing it with empathy,” he said. “This is a moment to learn. What it comes down to is stopping the spread” of the virus.

So far no one in the Petaluma Police Department has tested positive for the coronavirus, Savano said. Two members of the department were either sick or had sick family members, but did not have COVID-19 symptoms and were not tested. All officers have personal protective equipment, including gloves, masks and face shields, if needed, Savano said.

Officers working multiple shifts in a row are taking patrol cars home so as to limit their use by other officers. Police facilities are cleaned daily and there are hand washing stations and hand sanitizer available, Savano said.

Much of the administrative staff has been working remotely - the chief has been working from home two days a week - and most meetings are held on the video conferencing platform Zoom, he said.

The department has secured a secondary lodging site in case a member of the force shows symptoms of the virus and needs to be quarantined.

“Officers are already worried about their safety on the streets, then you add this,” Savano said. “They worry about bringing it home to their families.”

Despite concerns about the coronavirus, Savano said morale in the department remains high.

“Their attitude has been positive under the circumstances,” he said. “This pandemic is serious and deadly. People need to take the health order seriously.”

(Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)