Items

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  2021-07-28

  Public Safety Alert

  I always get a reality check of how different Arizona is handling the pandemic when I visit my family in California. Life has been back to "normal" here in Arizona for a while now. Masks are rarely seen, the number counts are not reported as much and coverage of vaccination sites is rare. In California, it is obvious that life has not yet returned to normal. There is no distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated, since no one is allowed to ask, everyone is asked to still wear masks. I was surprised to get this public safety alert while at my cousin's house last week. I feel like it was a reminder that life shouldn't be "normal" that we are still living through a pandemic and the storm has not yet passed. I wonder how people in Arizona would react to public safety messages like this one.
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  2021-05-26

  The microscopic tick

  A mask is like a microscopic tick We can't see it, but we can feel it, ick As I peel (the microscopic tick) off my face I'm repulsed I declare an appeal, “senit!” the microscopic tick has succeeded in form of fear It's won the battle Yet Covid is still here As I look on the ground (all around) the microscopic ticks are swarming in the air the dirty masks lay there… Breathless, weightless, thoughtless, penniless with an unconscious stare microscopic tick!
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  2021-03-16

  Safety at Teriyaki Ha Ha

  At Teriayaki Ha Ha on Route 1, just across from Nease High School, staff erected a wooden frame with plastic sheeting hung from it to create a protective barrier. When you walk in the front door, your order is waiting on the table. Cash is put into an envelope or credit card taken in advance on the phone. Everything is no contact. Next door is a Papa Johns where staff had masks pulled down around their necks and I observed several people walk in without masks, revealing how widely safety protocol differs from one business to the next.
• 2020-03-26

  Reduced level of police services

  Early on during the pandemic; I had a need to visit my old police department, Santa Barbara Police Department, in order to conduct my annual weapon qualification for my concealed weapon permit as a retiree. I was dismayed to find the police station shut to the walk in public. In addition, I learned that police officers were only responding to crimes in progress and emergencies of different kinds. All other contact had to be conducted over the phone. Such a reduced level of service has to have ramifications currently and down the road. Loss of personal contact between the citizen and officers will result in loss of information where as personal contacts often lead to obtaining unexpected criminal information. It’s a loss of opportunity to build trusting relationships. When little issues are not addressed by the presence of an officer; those little issues can grow to become significant problems. When officers are not dispatched to calls for service; citizens may decide not to call in the future. It’s well know that consensual contacts regarding minor issues often lead to felony crimes and arrests. So to some extent COVID-19 not only has a medical consequence it also has a public safety consequence.
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  2020-06-27

  Massive COVID-19 outbreak at a southern NM prison hits just one type of inmates — sex offenders. That’s by design.

  While the headline on this article seems extremely alarming it is less so after reading the article but still concerning. This prison offers a sexual predator rehab program and explains why only sex offenders are being housed here. Except that there were still a small number of prisoners that were serving time for other offenses and these people were transferred to other facilities. At this point 80% of the prison inmates have tested positive for Covid-19. While small numbers of inmates have been released early from prison to aid in slowing the spread of covid within the correctional facilities no one from this prison has been released early because sex offenders are specifically exempt from the option for early release due to the public safety risk they pose.
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  2020-05-30

  Bad River Band of Chippewa Call for Community Feedback for Project to Purchase Tiny Homes Used as Self-Isolation Locations

  “The Bad River Tribe intends to apply for the HUD ICDBG-CARES Grant to further prepare, prevent for, and respond to COVID-19 in our community. The purpose of this notice is to seek and consider feedback/comments from the community prior to finalizing the project proposal which is due June 1, 2020. The proposed project will include purchasing tiny homes to serve as isolation locations since the Tribe has high rates of overcrowding in homes. By creating spaces for COVID-19 positive community members to stay, the risk of spreading to family members and the community will be lowered.” Geographic Location is Ashland, Wisconsin
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  2020-03-30

  Creating Safe Havens: University Police on Duty Despite Pandemic

  Like their public safety colleagues across the nation, the men and women of the Suffolk University Police Department are balancing caring for their community and their families. "We still have a job to do to take care of people and their needs," said Lt. Ramon Nunez. "We have to pick each other up and have a positive mindset that we're going to get through this together." "I tell her that police officers are like superheroes in the community and that our job is to go out and help other people." Patrol Officer Gisela Rodrigues' daughter sometimes gets a bit nervous when it's time for her mom to go to work, but the officer knows how to calm her.
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  2020-03-25

  Public Safety Alert text message - Washington, DC

  This was a text message pushed out to the cell phones of all DC residents on 3/25/20 at about 8 pm. DC shuts down non essential businesses.