florida covid-19
Is social distancing compliance the area of responsibility of the Police?
<p>An excerpt from: <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/volusia-county/os-ne-daytona-beach-shooting-investigation-20200524-wtjxnox26fhpxdriov5ccetlj4-story.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/volusia-county/os-ne-daytona-beach-shooting-investigation-20200524-wtjxnox26fhpxdriov5ccetlj4-story.html</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Chief Capri said despite the various incidents, authorities “never
  lost control” of the area and were able to disperse crowds as they
  popped up.</p>
  
  <p>“I know people were scared and I know people were upset about the
  numbers of crowds there,” he said. “We don’t take this lightly
  especially with the crowds gathering together right now as we got the
  coronavirus still going around and people not practicing social
  distancing. But <strong>I’m not the social distancing police — that’s not my
   job</strong>.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Under what conditions is it the responsibility of the police to enforce social distancing?</p>

<h2>He is the (social distancing) police</h2>

<p>Which is to say, that police are responsible for enforcing the law without fear or favour but are allowed to employ their discretion in how and when they do so.</p>

<p>Police have limited resources and legally have discretion in their response to lawbreaking: they can make arrests and bring charges, they can issue tickets,they can give formal and informal warnings or they can walk away. They are allowed to consider whether what they do is ‘just’, achievable and worthwhile.</p>

<p>In the circumstances, it was probably reasonable for the police to conclude that trying to enforce social distancing laws would be arbitrary and not worthwhile.</p>
