Lafayette Police Won’t Enforce State Mask Mandate
Lafayette Police Chief Thomas Glover Sr. added his own log to the smoldering fire that is the debate over a state versus local mask mandate to mitigate the coronavirus. Glover speaking on Kenneth Boudreaux's weekly radio program said that if the City of Lafayette passes a mask mandate his officers will enforce it.
However, the Chief suggested in his comments that the current state-issued mask mandate will not be enforced by his officers.
But our department is not, at this time, enforcing a mandate to wear a mask, like the majority of departments around the state.
Those were Glover's comments as reported by KATC Television. And they seem to add fuel to the growing controversy over mask mandates and the enforcement of such that seems to be brewing between Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory and Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards.
Chief Glover did say that his officers will be wearing masks while on duty. They will also mask up anytime they are on police property or in police buildings or cars. The department has purchased two masks for each employee and Chief Glover says because the masks were purchased the employees will be required to wear them.
So once again the message is mixed over whether or not mask use in the city of Lafayette is required. If I am understanding this correctly the Mayor-President of Lafayette and City Council does not support a mask mandate because there is a state mandate already in place.
The state mandate isn't or won't be enforced in the city of Lafayette according to the Chief of Police. And the Governor is chiding the City of Lafayette for not supporting a mandate even though there appears to be evidence that the state isn't even investigating mask complaints in Lafayette.
From a farm boy's perspective, it sure looks as if the issue of public health is caught up in an old-fashioned political p*ssin contest. So, wear a mask or don't after all it's not a matter of life or death anymore, it's a matter of how you vote. or at least that's the direction the evidence is pointing.
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