You’re not a snitch if you report those defying stay-at-home order, local officials say
Hair stylists inviting clients to their homes for cuts and colors.
A nail technician advertising on social media that she’ll make house calls — cheap.
Local craft stores, still open and operating as essential businesses.
A local auction house, defiantly continuing to gather big crowds for indoor auctions, stopping only after a visit from the Wichita Police Department.
It’s been two and a half weeks since Sedgwick County issued its stay-at-home order, asking that all businesses except those deemed “essential” close for 30 days — and that people stay home unless they’re conducting essential business — to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
And it’s been a week since Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s own state-wide stay-at-home order, which supersedes Sedgwick County’s, took effect. People are allowed to go to grocery stores, pet supply stores, drug stores, health appointments, laundromats, service stations and liquor stores. They are also allowed to pick up take out from a restaurant and to exercise outdoors as long as they maintain a safe distance.
Since then, the public debate about what businesses actually are essential has raged on social media and beyond. Along with the debate has come lots of anecdotal stories of businesses and residents misunderstanding or flat out disregarding the orders — or using gray area to insist that their activities are, in fact, essential.
On Thursday, Sedgwick County created an additional way for residents to alert authorities when they see non-essential businesses operating or non-essential activities happening.
The county had already set up a hot line for people to report businesses and individuals not complying — 316-660-9000 — but on Thursday, it added an online “Stay At Home Reporting Form” on the county’s website.
The form, said Assistant County Manager Tania Cole, is intended to offer people who want to make reports and don’t want to call in a convenient place to do so. It also helps the county save a step since staffers in the call center fill out the same report, which is funneled into a big spread sheet that the county’s legal department can review.
The form requires those making reports to leave a first and last name, address, phone number and e-mail address. Also required are the name of the person or business being reported as well as the street address and date and time of the incident.
Those who wish to remain anonymous, Cole said, can call the hot line instead.
Since Gov. Kelly first issued her order on March 29, the county has received 354 calls, 838 emails and 416 online reports, Cole said.
Each day, it turns the report over to the legal department for interpretation, Cole said. Then, the county sends letters to businesses and people it has decided are violating the state order asking them to comply within 24 hours, Cole said.
Businesses and individuals will be given an opportunity to respond and explain why they think their activities are essential. If more interpretation is required, Cole said, the governor’s office will be contacted.
So far, Cole said, businesses that have been asked to close have all done so, she said. If the county would encounter a business owner or individual who refused to comply, “we would take the next step and provide that information to law enforcement,” she said.
Mayor Brandon Whipple is one of the people who helped turn in a business that wasn’t complying, he said.
Earlier this week, he got reports about and saw video of a local auction house cramming 70 to 100 people into close quarters for auctions, even after the stay-at-home orders were issued.
Whipple said his office notified Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay, and an officer was sent to speak to the owner. Eventually, the auction house agreed to stop holding in-person auctions, he said. Charley Davidson, the police department’s public information officer, confirmed the mayor’s account.
The county’s online reporting form’s debut was met with some skepticism online, as commenters on social media questioned whether people should be reporting their neighbors and fellow residents to the government.
“Just remember, snitches get stitches,” one wrote on the county’s Facebook post about the new online reporting form.
Whipple said he saw those comments on social media, too. And they frustrated him.
“Snitching is when there’s no victim. Snitching is when you report the kid who snuck a candy bar into a movie theater,” he said. “Here, if you have bad actors out there who are exposing people to the virus, those people are then out there unwittingly exposing other people, and it’s a huge societal concern. People are going to die because if it.
“You’re a hero if you report something that’s going to cause massive deaths and you try to prevent it,” he said.
Editor’s note: The Tory Brooke salon has been closed since March 24. It has not violated a stay-at-home order. An earlier photo of the salon that appeared with this story may have given an erroneous impression.
This story was originally published April 5, 2020 at 10:51 AM.
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