Sheriff James Haywood said on Monday that the COVID-19 crisis is causing him to run out of people.
In a Sunflower County Board of Supervisors meeting, he presented two individuals as new hires and elaborated on some of the circumstances that are affecting his workforce.
"I've got one dispatcher out and I am running out of dispatchers," he said.
Additionally, Haywood said he was in need of a security person to check temperatures in the lobby for persons who needed access to the jail.
In his conversation with the county leaders, he also mentioned a situation where a resident who was apparently asymptomatic inadvertently exposed one of his deputies to COVID-19.
Haywood said the deputy, who was wearing a mask, went into a home to investigate a burglary call, but when the deputy returned to his vehicle and removed his mask one of the members of the household came out to talk to him before he pulled off, and in the process of speaking to the deputy, the resident began coughing violently. "And he (the deputy) was diagnosed with COVID Saturday,” said Haywood.
He said the residents were not on any lists that reflect those who have tested positive and he said the carelessness of the citizens is putting his personnel in jeopardy.
“I'm running out of people with this pandemic," Haywood said.
He said that some people in the community have symptoms but are not going in for the tests, and that is putting his deputies and workers in other departments in jeopardy.
President Riley Rice also expressed concern, noting that people are not adhering to the governor's orders or the curfews.
"We had some funerals on the weekend, and they're still partying all night long,” Rice said.
District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald said the problem doesn't just exist with individual citizens, but business owners too.
He also shared a situation that he encountered recently involving a merchant.
"They won't make their workers wear masks. The owners themselves walk around there like they're Superman and Superwoman with no mask on, and I confronted one of them the other day. They may not want me back in their store no more, but that's fine. I get to spend my money somewhere else," Donald said.
He added, "Just because they're young and look cocky, don't mean they don't have it."
Donald wants law enforcement personnel to go by and issue warnings and write citations for those business owners who refuse to comply with city, county and state proclamations. He mentioned that the governor has said state help is available to assist in enforcing the mandates.
"Well, maybe that's what we ought to do, because the local police department is not doing it," said District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston.
Haywood then mentioned a situation from Saturday night where he said youth were congregating in the city and the police broke them up, but once that happened they disbanded to the county and re-established their gathering on Airport Road.
Nonetheless, when deputies arrived to disperse the group they had already left. "Evidently they had scanners or something because when deputies got out there everybody was gone," said Haywood.
He agreed that people are not paying attention to the rules, especially on the weekend.
Rice asked Attorney Johnny McWilliams for his opinion on what could be done to address the situation. "The only thing that you can do is to hire more law enforcement officers to issue citations," McWilliams said.
He added that despite the seemingly large number of persons not abiding by the rules, it wasn't everybody. “We have a whole lot of people who are doing the right things,” McWilliams said. He said most places you go, people are complying and wearing masks. He said, “You've just got some that are just going to be what they are."
Donald offered a different perspective than McWilliams. He asserted that hiring more people would not accomplish the intended goal. "You can hire a hundred more, but if you ain't going to arrest nobody, hiring a hundred more ain't going to do no good."
Donald said that in his opinion the solution would be to arrest someone, fine them and then publicize it in the newspaper. "You get you about 50 people with some fines on the weekend, you could stop a whole lot of this," he said, "But, when they think nothing is going to be done, they're going to continue with the normal."
Donald clarified that he understood the current situation with the jails and that locking people up was not the best solution. He expressed that simply issuing fines and citations was his intent.
Haywood said that so far neither he nor the Indianola Police has issued any citations, but he has instructed his deputies to write citations on anyone that they find in violation.
McWilliams asked specifically about citations issued to any businesses and Haywood acknowledged that there were not a lot of businesses outside of the city limits.
Gaston said, “If you talk to the Mayor and aldermen, they hadn't been out there issuing any citations or anything. They want to handle it by being nice. Like I told them the other day, that apparently it is not working."
Gaston said the city should be issuing citations and allowing the judge to determine the fines.
"That's what they ought to be doing, but they are not," he said, "You can't even get a hold of the police chief on a weekend here, much less get somebody a citation."
Rice asked Haywood to start issuing citations and said that he would talk to the mayor and police chief of Indianola about doing the same.
In other business,
The county lawmakers also voted to extend the county's COVID-19 emergency status.
The meeting was recessed until August 10 at 9 a.m. At that time, County Administrator Gloria McIntosh said that she would have a proposed budget to submit for the board's review and possible approval.
