Fresno County Sheriff’s Office must do more to stop the potential spread of COVID-19

In light of the highly contagious COVID-19 respiratory illness, the Judicial Council of California adopted a $0 statewide bail for misdemeanors and low-level felonies, which went into effect on April 13. Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye explained that this measure is intended to reduce jail populations and to “protect the health and safety of the public, court employees, attorneys, litigants, judicial officers, as well as staff and inmates in detention facilities, and law enforcement during the state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Once this measure went into effect, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Ventura County Sheriff’s Office began giving law enforcement officers the discretion to cite people suspected of committing offenses that fall under the $0 bail measure, while the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office continued making arrests and booking suspects into custody to later release them on this $0 bail. By not issuing similar citations, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims runs the risk of Fresno County Jail serving as an incubator for COVID-19.

On April 14, the first COVID-19 case was confirmed at the Fresno County Jail. Although the individual was suspected to have committed a low-level felony offense — making one eligible to get out of custody under the $0 bail measure — law enforcement still made an arrest and took the suspect to the jail for booking.

Even though Sheriff Mims tried to reassure the public that the suspect only entered the booking area and was immediately released after testing positive for COVID-19, many are now concerned for the well-being of the arresting officer, jail personnel, and medical staff who had close contact with the suspect.

It is apparent that arrests will continue to take place as long as crimes occur; and while it may be inevitable that inmates and jail personnel contract COVID-19 from new asymptomatic arrestees who do not qualify for the $0 bail, this measure in conjunction with issuing citations will at least limit the number of inmates that law enforcement and jail personnel come in contact with.

Instead of having a narrow-minded view of this measure and describing the $0 bail as a get-out-of-jail-free card for inmates, Sheriff Mims must acknowledge how her procedural enforcement of the measure could increase the risk of her employees contracting COVID-19.

If Sheriff Mims does not stop cycling suspects who qualify for $0 bail in and out of jails and does not give law enforcement officers the discretion to issue citations, then there will soon be new, confirmed cases of COVID-19 among law enforcement. This could potentially reduce the number of officers who would actually be available to protect and serve our community.

This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 11:10 AM.