Sick Sheriffs
As public health officials and healthcare workers face increased burdens due to COVID-19, local law enforcement agencies, namely county sheriff’s offices, have often been uncooperative.
MACON COUNTY, NC — Emily Ritter, information officer with the Macon County Public Health Department, had just finished giving a presentation on renewed coronavirus guidelines to Franklin High School students when she heard the news that the local sheriff’s office had announced a “covid cluster” within the department. The exact number of infected officers is currently unknown, but “a cluster is defined as a minimum of five cases” according to a press release on the subject from the MCPHD. In a recent interview about the outbreak, Ritter said that she was saddened, but not surprised by the announcement from Sheriff Robert Holland, whom she described as “extremely republican” and often “refusing to wear a mask or follow the CDC guidelines.” Describing the situation as “exceptionally politically charged,” Ritter says that even despite these new cases, Sheriff Holland refuses to take the virus seriously and “really believes what the president says” over health officials, claiming that it is all just “a hoax.” Acting this way, Holland has become one of the many sheriffs nationwide that are publicly refusing to enforce new public health guidelines even as his own deputies are dealing with infection.
Since March of 2020 and the beginning of the nation’s response to the coronavirus, many Americans like Holland have openly mocked and eschewed the guidelines put forward by the CDC and health officials even as countless others on the front lines like Ms. Ritter have sacrificed and pulled together to fight the virus. According to data, these disparate reactions can partially be attributed to the country’s extreme political divide that she alluded to, with conservatives far more likely than liberals to brush off the dangers of COVID-19. As reported by Alec Tyson at Pew Research “Republicans and Democrats remain far apart in their views of the threat to public health posed by the coronavirus outbreak”. This difference is especially pronounced when it escapes the fringes and reaches the level of public office, but even more so in partisan law enforcement positions with great power which are typically held by Republican sheriffs like Holland.
Even before the pandemic, many sheriffs have acted politically against the laws of their own jurisdictions, most notably those within the right-wing “Constitutional Sheriff” movement such as Joe Arpaio of Arizona and David Clarke of Wisconsin. According to reporting from the Reflective Democracy Campaign, “the flouting of local laws by sheriffs has a long and troubling history. The far-right ‘Constitutional Sheriffs’ movement has for decades encouraged its adherents — elected officials charged with law enforcement — to refuse to enforce gun control measures, federal land regulations, and other laws incompatible with their extremist ideology.” These sheriffs gained fame and notoriety before the virus, but their example was modeled by departments across the country and it has now been amplified by the pandemic. As the Reflective Democracy Campaign’s report goes on to say, local law enforcement is “charged in many counties with enforcing public health regulations,” but that “at least 60 sheriffs from New Mexico to Wisconsin are openly refusing to enforce COVID related restrictions.”
While many of these “anti-lockdown” sheriffs surely do think that the virus may be exaggerated or unworthy of a public response, some may simply be taking advantage of the virus and this moment for political gain. With many up for re-election this year, sheriffs may take such controversial stances to win support from like-minded citizens, especially in rural areas that are more likely to elect a Republican for the office. Writing for The Marhsall Project, Maurice Chammah described this phenomenon during an interview with political scientist Mirya Holman in May:
“Where Arpaio and Clarke built their reputations over many years, the route to political stardom has quickened in the COVID age, especially when a Democratic governor can serve as a foil. ‘Washington, Oregon, and Wisconsin are all examples where you have a liberal governor that’s been largely elected by the urban centers of the state, and a more conservative, rural area that feels like they’re being ignored and their interests are not being heard in the political process,’ said Holman. ‘The sheriff becomes the representation of that conflict.’”
Whether it is due to genuinely held partisan beliefs about the virus or simple electoral posturing, sheriffs akin to Holland, Arpaio and Clarke that are publicly downplaying the sincerity of the virus have become extremely alarming in the face of such grave public danger. Many local law enforcement agencies were already strained and understaffed due to the added burdens of the virus, but counterproductive rhetoric and actions from sheriffs like these have only exacerbated the issues. In Holland’s case, his limited department is now at least five deputies short as the infected officers quarantine at home. Will this encourage him to change his course of action and attempt to prevent further outbreaks in the future? Only time will tell.
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