Sheriff Bob Gualtieri stated, "This requires a serious response to a very serious problem. We are asking for everybody's help, everybody's cooperation, and that the public help us, to help them, and that they adhere to all these recomendations."

The Sheriff's Office as a whole is preaching social distancing to the public and its members. They have even started to quarantine members for being sick, or having recently traveled, and not allowing them to work. Is all of this necessary? Maybe...only time will tell.

What I am having trouble understanding, is in this pandemic with all of these precaution, how they can continue to have in-service training or active assailant training. These are gatherings of more than 10 people, and require deputies be in very close proximity to each other. Staff meetings also continue. What happens if this virus hits the command staff and spreads like wildfire at these meetings?

What about FTOs and recruits? They are stuck in a vehicle together in very close proximity for 12 hours at a time. If one of them falls to the virus, the other will be sure to follow. The academy is closed, so cadets are riding along with day shift. This same scenario applies to them.

If we're going to preach this stuff, in the name of "flattening the curve," shouldn't we practice it too? I don't know the right answer, or how we should proceed, but it seems like our current path is a recipe for disaster.