Quad City police, firefighters, courts take measures to deter coronavirus

Law enforcement and other first responders throughout the Quad Cities have begun taking precautions to limit the spread of COVID-19 among their staff and the public at large.

Initial steps have been to cancel any upcoming public events, such as Coffee with a Cop, Citizen’s Academy, Block Watch, Badges and Bobbers, Dump the Drugs and Bike Rodeo.

Public fingerprinting at any of the local police departments is also closed until further notice.

Additionally, all of the agencies are not allowing their personnel to travel outside of the area for such things as meetings, conferences and training opportunities.

Members of the public wishing to report a crime or emergency are encouraged to do so online or over the phone rather than in person.

First responders who specialize in emergency medical services are having to be especially cautious to ensure they can continue doing their jobs.

“We are developing very specific protocols in relation to the virus because we need to be able to maintain a level of response capacity,” said Conrad Jackson, a public information officer with the Prescott Fire Department. “We have to watch our exposure rates for personnel, because if an individual is quarantined, it’s going to decrease our capacity to do other responses.”

For instance, firefighters will be extra wary in their response to reports of any respiratory-related events. If they believe someone may have flu-like symptoms, they will, at minimum, make sure to wear additional personal protective equipment.

“When we encounter respiratory/fever patients, we’re starting to put masks on,” Jackson said. “We gotta keep these folks operational for all the other stuff they have to deal with.”

That said, Prescott Fire Chief Dennis Light assured that they have “ample resources for prehospital response and are staffed and available to respond as necessary.”

Lt. Jon Brambila with the Prescott Police Department said that, at the moment, it’s still “business as usual,” for local law enforcement despite the public’s frenzied behavior in preparation for a greater outbreak in Arizona and locally.

“We’ve obviously been doing extra patrols at the grocery stores and Walmarts just for presence,” Brambila said.

As of midday Monday, none of these retail locations in Prescott have had issues with customers to the point of needing police response.

“No incidents at all so far,” Brambila said. “It’s actually been relatively low call volumes in general the last couple of days, which is a good thing.”

For the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office (YCSO), one of the greatest concerns has been the potential for spread of the virus in the county jail in Camp Verde, YCSO spokesperson Dwight D’Evelyn said.

“Fortunately, we have staff from Wexford Health Sources on hand to assist with jail-related issues and preventive measures,” D’Evelyn said. “Direct interaction with inmates has been reduced wherever possible and detention officers are alert to anyone exhibiting flu-type symptoms.

COURTS

Courts around Arizona have been instructed by the Arizona Administrative Office of the Courts to do what they can to reduce the number of people entering courthouses given the pandemic. At the Yavapai County Superior Courts in Prescott and Camp Verde, some of those steps include the following:

• Members of the public are encouraged to either use exterior depository boxes or the U.S. mail to file paperwork at the courts. Court-related payments can also be made either online (http://courts.yavapai.us/) or at PayNearMe kiosks, the locations of which can be found at https://home.paynearme.com/merchant-locations/.

• Anyone with hearings scheduled may request to appear telephonically or via video-conference in most cases.

• Those who wish to attend a hearing to support a friend or family member are asked to reconsider unless attendance is essential. Anyone who is symptomatic of the virus may be asked to leave.

• Those summoned for jury duty who are symptomatic of the virus or have possibly been exposed to the virus may have their jury duty postponed. The court is also doing its best to not create gatherings of more than 50 people, so summons times may change to accommodate that.

“Some juror pools are as big as 180, so we’re just trying to utilize all of the court space that we have available to separate them out into smaller groups and really keep the in-person contact to a minimum,” Deputy Court Administrator Julie Malinowski said.

Follow Max Efrein on Twitter @mefrein, email him at mefrein@prescottaz.com or call him at 928-445-3333 ext. 1105.