County law enforcement adapts to keep COVID-19 cases low
Pinal County Sheriff’s Office has so far kept its number of coronavirus cases at the adult detention center to zero./inMaricopa
Local crime stories have been less frequent in the last few weeks. While it has been fairly quiet in the City of Maricopa, police arrests and the booking process have been impacted by COVID-19.
With the rise of coronavirus cases in Arizona the past two months, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office has asked city leaders to use their best judgment with prisoners they arrest and plan on booking, only booking those they consider absolutely necessary.
These practices and procedures have been put in place in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus within the jail system and eliminate unnecessary spread to officers and inmates alike.
“All inmates are being screened for signs of illness by our contracted medical staff. In the event they receive a symptomatic inmate, they would immediately place an N95 respirator on the inmate and place them in the reverse airflow room,” PSCO spokesperson Lauren Reimer said. “We hoped these changes would decrease the chances of introducing the virus at our jail, and to date, we have had zero inmates test positive for COVID-19.”
