Some Coast cops are changing the way they’re policing because of coronavirus
Effective immediately, Long Beach and Gulfport police are handling non-emergency calls for service by phone to reduce contact between police officers and the public amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Long Police Chief Billy Seal made the announcement there Wednesday.
“Incident reports can still be written up and followup investigations, when necessary, will still occur,” Seal said in a release.
When police officers do respond to calls in person, Seal is asking those who call in to wait outside for the officers if possible.
In addition, the public is asked to refrain from coming to the police station to report non-emergencies.
Police will continue to respond to emergency calls that are life-threatening to ensure the safety of the community and will continue enforcement efforts, Seal said.
The alternative policing plan was created in an effort to better protect law enforcement officers in the field from contracting new coronavirus, or COVID-19.
Gulfport Police Chief Leonard Papania said his agency has instituted a similar strategy, though the lobby remains open for people to pick up reports or handle other matters.
As for non-emergency calls, such a report of a stolen bicycle, those incidents will be handled by phone.
“Our strategy that we have developed is trying to elongate the health of our Police Department and the only way we are going to do that is to mitigate exposure,” Papania said. “The way to do that is limit the engagement.”
Police will practice social distancing and ask people to meet them outside on calls, if possible.
As for the response to emergency calls, he said that will continue as well as daily enforcement of state laws.
“We are hoping the people in society recognize the events we are in,” Papania said. “We want to be able to offer police service throughout this pandemic and you can only do it with healthy people. All indicators we are seeing right now is conditions will worsen before they get better.”
The Gulfport and Long Beach police departments are the first Coast agencies to take such action, though more of the same is expected from other local law enforcement agencies due to the growing number of coronavirus cases in South Mississippi, with four cases reported locally as of Wednesday.
In Jackson County, Sheriff Mike Ezell is asking residents to report non-emergency incidents by calling 228-769-3063.
To obtain records in Jackson County, he said, the public should call the Records Division at 228-769-3065.
In addition, Jackson County is temporarily suspending any pre-employment fingerprinting.
In Long Beach, Seal is asking the public to call 228-863-7292.
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 11:52 AM.
