Enforcing Rules Have Violent Consequences For Private Security
Charlotte NC
July 13 2020
Police and sheriffs across the country have said no. Yet, private security officers have taken on the job and many say that has only led to violence.
Sheriffs of at least three North Carolina counties have said that their deputies will not intervene with violations of people not wearing a face covering.
Governor Cooper issued an executive order requiring all people in the state to wear a mask in public, where physical distancing of 6 feet from other people is not possible.
Many cities and towns in North Carolina and other states have also issued their own order.
Some cities across the country have also made the order stronger by voting to make it an ordinance. Local ordinances can carry civil penalties, criminal fines and in some cases, up to 30 days in jail.
But the orders in North Carolina does not say how it will be enforced. Even if it did, sheriffs in Halifax County, Craven County, and Sampson County announced they wouldn’t follow it.
Many believe that it is an infringement on people’s civil rights. Some law enforcement officials agree.
Law enforcement in Texas, Illinois, Michigan and elsewhere also do not enforce face covering orders or ordinances.
Denton County Sheriff Tracy Murphree, in particular, pointed out the “hypocrisy” in asking police to enforce a mask mandate weeks after many officials failed to condemn mass gatherings of protesters who took to the streets after the death of George Floyd, many of whom called to “F the police.”
Law enforcement officials in at least eight counties – including Denton, Houston, Montgomery, Gillespie, Upshur, Kerr, Nacogdoches and Panola – have since said they will not issue verbal or written citations for those who do not comply with the mask mandate.
Some officials cited a lack of staffing, while others argued the language of the executive order either made it difficult to police or infringed on constitutional rights.
Meanwhile, many retailers and restaurants have now begun to strictly enforce the requirement of face masks for customers and staff.
From the beginning, this has led to violent encounters between private security officers trying to enforce the rules and customers who neither recognize the authority of a security officer or just flat out won’t comply with the rules.
Two private security officers have been shot to death enforcing the rules and a third one was arrested for murder on July 9th after he shot and killed a customer who refused to comply with the mask rule.
Additionally, sixteen security officers have been violently attacked including a Walmart security guard who was knocked unconscious, a Target security officer who received a broken arm escorting a non-compliant customer out of the store and a security officer in who was stabbed after confronting a person who was not wearing a face covering.
The bottom line said retired police Captain Troy Amberwood, is that most of these local orders are not laws. We, the police, enforce laws, not rules. It’s like asking a police officer to come into your business and force a man who is wearing shorts, to change into pants. Unless a law has been broken and a crime committed, we have no authority in getting involved.
Now, if and when the man assaults an employee or even refuses to leave the business, then a law has been broken and police can now intervene and arrest the person breaking the law Amberwood said.
While security officers often do enforce property rules at malls, apartments and schools with little negative response or abuse, the face mask situation is a hot topic because many really do believe that it’s an infringement on their rights said Rick McCann, founder and CEO of Private Officer International, a private security and law enforcement association and a law enforcement officer himself.
Security officers have taken a lot of heat, abuse and pushback on this issue and they have been put into a position of danger because of it and I’m afraid, that more violence involving Coronavirus rules and security officers can be expected, McCann said.
