Miami Beach police can issue mask citations
After an executive order from Gov. Ron DeSantis led Miami Beach to stop enforcing its COVID-19 mask mandate, the city has authorized police to start issuing citations to anyone who refuses to wear a facial covering.
Police will only issue citations if violators refuse to wear masks provided to them. The policy change, announced Tuesday by
City Manager Jimmy Morales, went into effect Wednesday and will last at least through the weekend.
The citations will carry a $50 fine, to be collected when legally allowed. Police will enforce the order in commercial corridors citywide.
“We will evaluate the effectiveness of the effort this weekend to determine if and how to best continue with the individual citations,” a city spokeswoman said in a statement.
The governor’s Sept. 25 order suspended the “collection of fines and penalties associated with COVID-19 enforced upon individuals,” weakening mask mandates. While some South Florida municipalities — such as MiamiDade and the cities of Miami and Key West — have continued to issue mask citations, Miami Beach stopped enforcing the measure after DeSantis’ order.
Meanwhile, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber has repeatedly implored DeSantis to make masks mandatory statewide,
“My city was among the first municipalities in the nation to require mask usage, and along with Miami-Dade County and Miami we have had orders requiring masks indoors and outside for months,” Gelber wrote in a Sept. 26 letter to DeSantis, responding to his executive order. “We believe these mandates have been a major reason why our virus rate came down after the deadly surge that followed your last reopening.”
Morales, who wields unilateral decision-making powers granted to him by the commission during the city’s state of emergency, authorized the policy change and said he believes enforcing the order in even a limited capacity should encourage safe behavior during a time when holiday gatherings threaten to worsen the surge in COVID-19 cases in Miami-Dade County and nationwide.
“In an effort to be proactive this weekend, I have spoken with Chief [Richard] Clements and starting tomorrow, our police officers in the commercial districts around the city will reach out to individuals that are not wearing masks and first offer them a mask to wear,” Morales wrote in the email. “If the individual refuses, the officer will then issue a citation.”
MASK LAWS ELSEWHERE
Broward and Miami-Dade counties mandate masks in public, but Broward inspectors have not been issuing citations to individuals, enforcing business restrictions instead, a spokesman said.
In Miami-Dade, police continue to enforce the mask mandate, although officers have not issued a single citation in November. Police attribute the decline in citations to the changing habits of residents, not a ramping down of enforcement.
“It has nothing to do with the governor,” said Det. Alvaro Zabaleta, a Miami-Dade Police spokesman. “Our job is to enforce the emergency orders signed by the mayor’s office.”
In Miami, police say they have taken a “more educational approach” to the city’s mask law, but officers reserve the right to issue a citation in “extreme cases,” according to a city spokeswoman.
Last week, Key West toughened its mask law to require individuals to cover their faces even if they are outside and distant from others. In October, the city announced it would continue to issue citations for violations of the order.
But in Miami Beach, police and code officers stopped enforcing the county’s mask mandate after DeSantis signed the executive order. They have continued to enforce the use of masks in businesses.
In a Nov. 19 email to the Miami Herald, the city spokeswoman said the city was “prohibited to issue violations to individuals” under the governor’s order.
“What we do enforce is against businesses that do not require employees or patrons to wear masks,” she wrote.
Commissioner Ricky Arriola, who has criticized the city’s coronavirus policies as harmful to businesses, reacted to the new policy in a social media post. He said the city appears to be ignoring state law by empowering police to issue citations.
“Here we are going to issue citations even though the governor has said it’s unenforceable,” Arriola said. “We are going to do it, anyway.”