You can count the Santa Rosa Police Department among the agencies putting new safety protocols into effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic after a detective in the department died from the disease last month. Santa Rosa Police Department patrol teams have been been split in half due to the pandemic.
"Half of the team works on a 14-day schedule where they do four days on work at a 12-1/2 hour shift and they have three days off." said Santa Rosa Police Sergeant Christopher Mahurina, "then they have three days back on at 12-1/2 (hour) shift and then four days off. And they go into a quarantine period after that."
More social distancing measures will also be put into place. Mahurin said the other half of the team works on a mired 14-day schedule so those officers can be on duty while the others are off.
He said the department also has created an internal pandemic response unit to maintain sanitation and decontamination protocols. He adds that everyone inside the department headquarters is required to wear masks, as are officers when they are in the field.
"When an officer isn't driving around with, say, someone in the backseat of their vehicle, they're not required to wear a mask when they're in the vehicle by themselves." said Mahurin, "once they get out of the vehicle, even if it's just to do a foot patrol, they're required to have the masks on, or if they're contacting anyone in the public."
On March 31st, Santa Rosa Police Detective Marylou Armer died from COVID-19, and several other officers have tested positive for the virus.
