Dixon Police Challenged by Order Violators

DIXON, CA — As daily reports of COVID-19 cases grow on the Solano County website, yet no one seems to know of anyone in the tight-knit community that has it, folks have wondered if COVID-19 has found its way to Dixon.

“No one can say zero anymore,” said Jayleen Richards, Public Health Administrator for Solano County, about the cities in Solano including Dixon. And, according to Dixon Police Chief Robert Thompson, the Stay-at-Home Order isn’t being taken seriously enough by a small minority. This puts the community and his officers at risk.

“When we first started [the Health Order,] there was an expansive educational campaign informing people that this is closed or we can’t do this activity, but things have changed,” he said. “We are experiencing people more hostile about it and more combative.”

This is now three and a half weeks for many Dixonites considered not working at "essential" jobs to be in isolation due to the Stay-at-Home Order by Solano County and it is understandable for some to feel agitation as determined by numerous resources listed on the County's website dealing with COVID-19.

An urgent City Council Meeting originally set for this past Friday to possibly raise the minimum fine of $100 for violators of Solano County’s Stay-at-Home Order was cancelled by Mayor Thom Bogue in large part due to the requirement of passing anything with at least four votes.

At the previous Emergency Council Meeting held on Thursday, March 19, council approved a resolution making violations civil not criminal, and the fines would start at $100 after warnings then increase to $250, $500, then $1,000. Although, that was after a thorough debate and the vote was clearly hard won.

The Mayor thought it was too high to start at $250 with so many people not working. Several citizens felt there had been no main place for Dixon residents to get the news from. While others thought it was too soon to enact since there was much confusion over the County order of what one could and could not do based on the “essential” activity exemption as directed by California Governor Gavin Newsom on March 19.

The Solano County Health Officer extended the county’s shelter-at-home order through April 30.

In the past two weeks, the Dixon Police Department has received an increase number of calls for service and on-view observations of violations of the health order—all elements of the order, the Chief said, from businesses being open when they were ordered to close or groups getting together.

“To be clear, walking in a park is not a problem but it can’t be a game of basketball or soccer games,” Thompson explained. “There was also a group gathering recently for a softball practice and just this past week, there was a group —at one point--50 people gathering at Hall Park.”

“The level of willful disobedience or blissful ignorance is becoming an increasing problem,” he said. “All indications are that social distancing is working and stopping the spread of infection and you’d think that would be enough but there is a small and persistent element in this community…” Thompson sounded exasperated.

“We are charged with protecting the health and welfare of the people in this community as well as protecting my officers,” he said. “Every time we have to stop and talk to someone, there is increased risk to my officers. The arrogance and self-absorption of people in this community can be staggering.” But then he emphasized that the problem was not with the majority--saying that the majority was doing what they were supposed to do.

Solano County Health Department was helping to disseminate information in Spanish to minimize the possibility of language barriers about the Order. They have half their staff working the “warm line” which is calling businesses and giving advice about what they are doing. Most of the problems were big box industries, Richards, the Public Health Administrator said, and they helped them with signage in English and Spanish.

“When we become aware [of problems,] we advise how the business can improve,” she added. “We get a lot of calls every day from people telling us some business is open and shouldn’t be or businesses not following the distance guidelines.”

In addition, some of the parks were overwhelmed by the number of people visiting and they were having trouble keeping them sanitized she said, but also people tend to congregate, play basketball, or soccer, and those aren’t essential activities.

Thompson was in favor of the civil fines starting steeply because the department had already seen some resistant factors.

“Based on density we’re doing better than a lot of other places because we have these things in place. These are all very important elements to what we are trying to accomplish. It’s increasingly challenging. We’ve already had honest open and transparent conversations and they continue to disregard the Order. We did not make the ‘list’ of what can stay open and what can’t, but it’s our job to protect our people,” he said. “If the city ordinance is not going to an effective deterrent, we’re going to have go to the fines.”

To see the Solano County Order of the Health Officer, it is at: https://www.solanocounty.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=31932. It says that Violation of or failure to comply with this Order is a misdemeanor punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both. (California Health and Safety Code § 120295, et seq.)

“Our threshold [for issuing a fine] is willfully and knowingly violating the order. We have some people calling and asking how much is the fine and trying to determine if it is worth their gathering.”

“More Dixon police officers live in this town now than any other time. We’re your neighbors and T-Ball coaches and we sit next to you in church when we can get to church. We’re members invested in this community and what affects our community affects us personally including our families,” he added.