The City of Clovis announced April 10 that it would penalize individuals and businesses who violate the governor’s shelter-in-place order or the city’s emergency orders.
The announcement makes violating state and emergency orders a misdemeanor offence. Violators will be subject to a $1,000 fine and possibly six months in prison.
“These orders allow for the option of issuing an administrative fine of $1,000 in lieu of a criminal prosecution for violations of local and State emergency orders that occur in the City of Clovis,” the city said in a press release.
Clovis Police Officer Lt. Jim Munro said the order gives law enforcement the ability to issue a civil citation instead of having to go through a lengthy formal written process.
“We would give them a citation, but instead of going to the court house, they are either able to pay the fine through the city or they have what is called an administrative hearing,” Munro said.
Munro said law enforcement would issue verbal warnings and instruction to those who do not comply before issuing a citation.
Violations to emergency orders include large group gatherings and the operation of non-essential businesses.
Munro said police will issue warnings to groups of ten or more people.
“Our hope is that we are able to educate, provide warnings, and never ever have to issue one of these citations,” Munro said, adding that the announcement is intended for nonessential businesses that refuse to comply with emergency orders.
“These are reserved for, in the worst case scenario, nonessential businesses and organizations failing to comply with the order,” Munro said.
Munro said the city has not had any issues with individuals or businesses complying with emergency orders so far.
Mayor Drew Bessinger said individuals will not be stopped or questioned by law enforcement for going about their day, whether they are driving or walking.
“Verbal warning for violations will always be given. Residents will never be stopped on the street, in their vehicles or out and about for social distancing violations,” Bessinger said. “The fines are only issued at the very last result.”
Bessinger said obeying state and local emergency orders is the best way to ensure that the crisis is over as fast as possible.
“We don’t want to criminalize people’s behavior based on this set of circumstances, but we are hoping that people realize that we are serious,” Bessinger said. “We want to get this whole situation behind us as quickly as possible and the experts are telling us the best way to do that is to flatten the curve and reduce the potential for exposure.”
A list of the city’s emergency orders can be found at https://cityofclovis.com/covidinfo.
This story was updated April 10 at 2:30 p.m. to include comments from Clovis Mayor Drew Bessinger.