El Paso County sheriff clarifies stance on mask mandate enforcement
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — The first day of Colorado’s mask requirement brought a lot of questions about its enforcement.
Put simply, it’s up to businesses to enforce mask-wearing and turn customers away if they refuse. Then, if they don’t leave, owners or managers can call the police to have them remove trespassers. But statements like this from the Teller County sheriff are muddying the waters:
“Right now we’re unable to enforce it. Nor would we enforce it,” Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said.
A Facebook post from the El Paso County sheriff Thursday prompted more questions than answers, too.
Nearly 1,000 people commented on the post. Some of them praised El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder for writing that he would not “be expending the resources of the Sheriff's Office on issuing citations to individuals not wearing masks.”
However, a day later, Elder posted a 13-minute video clarifying what he meant by that.
“We’re not going to be the mask police. We’re going to enforce other violations of Colorado revised statutes, such as, like listed in here, trespassing,” Elder said while holding up Gov. Jared Polis’ executive order mandating masks be worn in public indoor spaces in Colorado.
The sheriff also answered specific questions people submitted. Off-camera, a woman’s voice reads this question to the sheriff: “If a business owner asks you to remove a trespasser that’s not wearing a mask, will you ignore that call?”
Elder says he won’t ignore it.
“If there’s a trespass, we’ll treat it just like any other trespass call,” Elder said. “The business owners can sign a complaint, and it’s up to the person whether they decide to leave or not. It’s that simple. But no one’s going to jail.”
Sheriff Elder advises if you’re in public and have a valid reason outlined by the governor to not wear a mask, to say so. Elder adds that his office is short on resources to respond to low-priority calls like trespassing.
There is another way businesses can get in trouble for not complying with the executive order. Local agencies, such as a county health department, can temporarily suspend a business license if it’s in violation of the order.
