{"id":805594,"date":"2020-03-23T18:22:22","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T00:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=380863"},"modified":"2020-03-23T18:22:22","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T00:22:22","slug":"summit-county-law-enforcement-emphasize-education-over-punishment-for-health-order-violators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/summit-county-law-enforcement-emphasize-education-over-punishment-for-health-order-violators\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit County law enforcement emphasize education over punishment for health order violators"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Community members gathered at Carter Park in Breckenridge on March 15 to go sledding. The town later closed the park to prevent people from gathering in large groups. <\/strong>
Taylor Sienkiewicz \/ tsienkiewicz@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

DILLON \u2014 Law enforcement agencies around the county are asking residents to do their part to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus, urging everyone to follow the guidance of the county\u2019s public health order<\/a>.  <\/p>\n

The order now includes the prohibition gatherings of more than 10 individuals, along with widespread closures to businesses, lodging and other services. Violators can face some hefty penalties, too, including a fine of up to $5,000 and up to 18 months in jail. But officials say the threat of penalty shouldn\u2019t have to be the deciding factor for would-be violators.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting calls now about people violating the public health order,\u201d Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got people calling about groups of people, short-term rentals, neighbors calling on neighbors. But I don\u2019t believe that we can enforce our way out of this. This is about character and personal integrity \u2014 your moral compass telling you to stay home and obey the order. The threat of a ticket or getting sent to jail shouldn\u2019t be what influences you.\u201d<\/p>\n

FitzSimons said the county\u2019s law enforcement agencies don\u2019t have the capacity to actively seek out violations, but they will be following up on each complaint. So far, FitzSimons said the most common calls have been about short-term rentals still operating, and gatherings at backcountry ski areas like Loveland Pass, where skiers and snowboarders arrived in droves during the weekend, many parked illegally on the highway.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoveland Pass this weekend was a big drain on resources,\u201d FitzSimons said. \u201cBut we\u2019re seeing this effect at all our trailheads where people go backcountry skiing. They just have the good intensions of trying to get out and get some fresh air, but even if you don\u2019t get really sick, you can infect other people \u2014 vulnerable populations, your family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

FitzSimons said that while violators could face civil and criminal punishments, his office is more interested in trying to educate offenders and bring them into compliance rather than slapping them with a fine or jail time.<\/p>\n

While going backcountry skiing is OK, officials are asking participants to avoid congregating in parking lots or at trailheads. FitzSimons noted that any large groups gathering would be dispersed by law enforcement along with anyone parking illegally.<\/p>\n

Despite a number of complaints, the Summit County Sheriff\u2019s Office hasn\u2019t written any citations so far. Other law enforcement leaders around the county said their philosophies are similar, erring on the side of education over penalization.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve taken that stance from the very beginning of this,\u201d Frisco Police Department Chief Tom Wickman said. \u201cYou think about all the anxiety people have right now, we don\u2019t want to create any more. \u2026 We\u2019re cautioning folks and talking with people to make sure they\u2019re following the rules. But everything has been fine in Frisco.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a couple calls come in from the county, but we\u2019re trying to push things back toward public health to help educate those people,\u201d Silverthorne Police Department Chief John Minor said. \u201cAll the police chiefs and the sheriff talk every day, and we\u2019re trying to coordinate our responses so there\u2019s some consistency. But the first step is always education.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Community members gathered at Carter Park in Breckenridge on March 15 to go sledding. The town later closed the park to prevent people from gathering in large groups. Taylor Sienkiewicz \/ tsienkiewicz@summitdaily.com DILLON \u2014 Law enforcement agencies around the county are asking residents to do their part to help stop the spread of the new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-805594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-17 17:14:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}