Over this past year, we have worked together to flatten the curve and to try to salvage what is left for 2020 for our local businesses, especially for those who were shut down for several months as “non-essential,” and those left open but have to operate with reduced capacity ratios and restrictions that made it practically impossible to sustain.
Then we saw our children return to school in hybrid or modified educational systems, beaches reopened, and indoor dining returned with various levels of public health restrictions. All of this felt hopeful through Halloween and entering the holiday season.
Then the numbers began to spike and the Governor’s Office set a metric that would establish a regionalized approach to hospital ICU capacity (under 15% or less) to trigger the new and current stay at home order. It feels frustrating to every one of us and although I know personally how real and deadly COVID-19 is, especially for people in the higher risk category, it does not lessen the sting from hopes that we would be on our way to recovery and normalcy. Nor does it change the fact that the reason we were originally trying to flatten the curve was to ensure hospital ICU capacities would not be seriously compromised, which is currently what we see happening again.
All of that being said, I can assure you that the police department supports our local businesses, big and small, no matter how they are defined in the eyes of the public health order, as we protect our community as a whole without hesitation or reservation. As law enforcement officers, we cannot ignore the law, but I have directed my officers to balance public health with public safety.
We know that the primary function police departments is to enforce those laws that concern themselves directly with public safety, but we also spend a great deal of time with quality of life issues to help improve our community’s living conditions. I can assure you, with regard to the current stay at home order, we aim to strike a balance between human dignity and reasonableness. We take an approach of “educate and gain voluntary compliance” as this public health issue is really about personal responsibility and accountability. It is not about arresting those who have suffered the economic, social, emotional, and psychological impacts of the virus and the government’s response to the virus.
We will continue to serve our public by responding to calls for service, criminal apprehension, and patrolling the streets, businesses, and neighborhoods to thwart criminal activity in order to keep our community safe. We ask that you keep yourselves safe and your neighborhoods safe by practicing social distancing, wearing a mask when appropriate, washing your hands frequently, and not gathering in large groups to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. You can rest assured that your Los Alamitos Police Department will be here for you, your families, and your businesses, to serve and protect our city, Every Hour, Every Day.
Chief Eric R. Nuñez
Los Alamitos Police Department