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Pa. State Police will continue citing business that violate COVID shutdown orders
Ioannis Pashakis//May 11, 2020
Pa. State Police will continue citing business that violate COVID shutdown orders
Ioannis Pashakis//May 11, 2020//
Even though some county district attorneys have said they will not prosecute business that open in defiance of Gov. Tom Wolfs shut down order, Pennsylvania State Police will continue to issue warnings and citations, officials say.
A district attorney who refuses to prosecute the citations would remove any penalty issued by the state police, but the agency intends to continue to respond to complaints and give warnings and citations where it deems necessary, said Ryan Tarkowsky, communications director for the Pennsylvania State Police.
District attorneys from several counties, including Lancaster, York, Lebanon and Dauphin said this weekend that they will not prosecute businesses that receive citations from the Pennsylvania State Police for opening their doors to customers
Statewide enforcement of Wolf’s stay at home order began on March 23 with the Pennsylvania State Police receiving the go ahead to give citations to businesses refusing to follow the order on the same day.
As of Monday, the state police have issued 312 warnings and only one citation. The agency has made an effort to focus on educating businesses on the order and limit the issuing of citations, said Ryan Tarkowsky, communications director for the Pennsylvania State Police.
“We haven’t written a ton of citations but that option still exists for businesses that disregard the governor’s orders,” Tarkowsky said.
Although businesses may not receive penalties from the Pennsylvania State Police, Tarkowsky said businesses ignoring the orders could still lose state-issued licenses through penalties given by the Department of State or the Department of Health.
