Pierce County Sheriff's Letter To The Community

PIERCE COUNTY, WA — Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor wrote an open letter to the community Thursday, outlining what the sheriff's department is doing about the spreading coronavirus.

"A community can be measured by how it reacts to crisis. Not just catastrophic crisis but significant interruptions in our lives," the letter began.

He commended the work of his colleagues in the sheriff's department and said the people in the community are neither helpless nor naive, citing both as factors that should reduce the public's concerns.

"As we go through this journey together, you will notice several changes as we modify and evolve our procedures in order to provide public safety services while ensuring a safety environment for our deputies," the sheriff said. In the past 10 days, he added, they've taken these steps:

• Deployed hand sanitizer and disinfectants to all work stations
• Instructed that surgical masks be placed on symptomatic arrestees
• Suspended the public ride-along program
• Suspended in-service training
• Advised patrol deputies to handle calls for service over the phone if possible; if not possible, residents will be asked to meet deputies outside their residences of place of business
• Postponed all department ceremonies and gatherings scheduled in March and April
• Closed the lobby area at our Parkland-Spanaway Precinct; currently the front desk at our Headquarters remains open for sex offender registrations, our South Hill Precinct lobby remains open for accessibility to the domestic violence order kiosk, and our Property Room remains open. Our desk staff at these locations are behind glass.
• Implemented social distancing and geographic distancing measures for our investigations units and support staff
• Screened all persons entering the corrections facility for symptoms of COVID-19
• Designated cleaning times for all units inside the jail
• Restricted visitations at the jail

See the full message from Sheriff Pastor.

The dispatchers at 911 call centers are screening callers to determine if they're exhibiting coronavirus symptoms and notifying deputies if there's risk of an exposure.

"Please work with us as we make these minor adjustments in our means of service delivery. These are aimed at maintaining our ability to best deliver service as we all deal with COVID-19," Pastor said.

"A community can be measured by how it reacts to crisis. It is my belief that Pierce County communities will deal with the difficulties, will weather this crisis, will work with the Sheriff’s Department and Fire Districts and local government and will come out of this in good shape. That is my take. It won’t be easy. It will be possible."