As more states are enacting requirements for people to wear masks to curb a surge of coronavirus cases, they're facing resistance from the police expected to enforce those orders.
FILE - In this April 27, 2020 file photo, Gov. Asa Hutchinson takes off his Arkansas Razorbacks facemark as he arrives for the daily coronavirus briefing at the state Capitol in Little Rock. Hutchinson issued the order Thursday, July, 16, 2020, effective Monday, July 20, requiring people to wear masks in public throughout the state, which is dealing with a surge in coronavirus cases. The governor issued the order after weeks of resisting such a requirement.
Holland is among a number of police chiefs and sheriffs in Arkansas and elsewhere who say they won't enforce statewide mask requirements, even within their departments. Some say they don't have the manpower to respond to every mask complaint, treating violations of the requirement as they would oft-ignored minor offenses such as jaywalking. Others, including Holland, reject the legal validity of mask requirements.
The most vocal police pushback to mask requirements is coming from Republican-led states that aggressively reopened businesses or previously opposed stricter measures such as mask requirements. Hutchinson, who was among a handful of governors who didn't issue a stay-at-home order, long resisted issuing a mask mandate in Arkansas, but he relented in the face of the state's worsening numbers.
John Staley, the sheriff of Lonoke County in central Arkansas, said he agrees with the need for masks and his deputies wear them when in contact with the public. But he said his department doesn't have the manpower to respond to complaints about them. Enforcement of Alabama's mask rule, which took effect this month, has also varied. Some police said they would provide masks to those not wearing them in public, and others said they didn't plan to ticket people for violations.
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