Gov. Mike DeWine’s new restrictions aim to combat the state’s rising COVID-19 cases, but at least one Ohio sheriff told a local news station that he refuses to assume the role of “curfew police.”
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones told Cincinnati’s Fox19 that he doesn’t intend to enforce the governor’s curfew, which begins Thursday (November 19).
DeWine announced that the curfew would remain in place for three weeks. It will begin at 10 p.m. and stay in effect until 5 a.m.
“We are issuing a curfew in Ohio that will start Thursday,” DeWine tweeted Tuesday afternoon (November 17). “This will run from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. for 21 days…I’m also asking each Ohioan every day to do at least one thing that reduces your contact with others.”
The curfew joins other recently-announced restrictions, including a mask mandate. DeWine also indicated that officials would consider ordering restaurants, bars, gyms and other businesses to close.
The Ohio Department of Health reported more than 312,400 total cases as of Tuesday, the latest data available. It also tracked more than 22,800 hospitalizations and more than 5,700 deaths statewide.
DeWine and other state officials aim to mitigate the spread, but Jones argues that the curfew will do “absolutely nothing.”
“Everybody is fatigued and tired,” Jones told Fox19. “The governor is a nice guy, (but he) never reaches out to law enforcement. None of my fellow law enforcement people, we’ve never been talked to. We find out what is going on when we see him at the news conference.”
“I’m not going to have my employees go out and make arrests, or stop people,” Jones continued. “People are angry, and I don’t care what the governor says, somebody will disobey or run. Bad things will happen from this curfew.”
Photo: Getty Images