Detroit News: Michigan officials asked police to help levy ‘threat’ for COVID violators

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In October, Gretchen Whitmer’s Administration urged local police departments across the state to encourage citizens to report one another to the police for violating COVID-19 restrictions, even after Whitmer’s orders were ruled unconstitutional.

Whitmer’s big-state power grab was thankfully denied by police organizations, but it begs the question: how many times would Michiganders have had to call the police on Whitmer for violating her own orders? Whitmer and her family have been caught multiple times violating state orders, including last month at an East Lansing dive bar.

“Michiganders have persevered for over a year through Gretchen Whitmer’s brutal lockdowns, but that apparently wasn’t enough for Whitmer,” said RGA Spokesperson Chris Gustafson. “Whitmer’s authoritarian approach to COVID-19 has left Michigan’s recovery dead last in the nation, all the while she’s been violating her own orders. Whitmer’s rules for me, not for thee governing will be rejected come next November.”

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Michigan officials asked police to help levy ‘threat’ for COVID violators, emails show
The Detroit News
Craig Mauger

Members of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration encouraged local police agencies in October to more aggressively help the state enforce restrictions on mask-wearing and social distancing — invitations they declined — according to emails released through an open records request.

The messages show Robert Gordon, then-director of the state’s health department, pitched the leaders of the Michigan Sheriffs’ Association and Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police on a plan to ask people who saw violations of COVID-19 orders to “contact local police or sheriffs as appropriate.” The organizations rejected the proposal, contending an educational effort would be more effective to gain compliance.

“With COVID-19 cases surging, there is great urgency to encourage masking and social distancing,” Gordon wrote in one email on Oct. 17. “These are the best tools available to slow the rise in cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

“While some people will act because they believe it is important, for others, a credible threat of sanction is likely to be critical.”

Read more here.