West Hollywood had no problems connected to the state-mandated curfew on Saturday night, the first night the new overnight curfew went into effect.
The West Hollywood Sheriff’s station did not report any curfew protests occurring and did not issue any citations to residents who were out after 10 p.m., when the curfew went into effect.
“It was a very quiet night last night,” said the station’s watch commander.
Sheriff’s station officials are asking people to be observant of the curfew, but not to fear if they are out walking their dog after 10 p.m. They do not plan to arrest people or issue citations for walking a dog at midnight.
However, that does not mean deputies will ignoring people if they are out during curfew hours.
“We will be educating and asking people to be safe,” said the watch commander.
They understand this is a new experience for everyone and people will need time to get used to it. But they also ask people to use common sense as everyone makes the adjustment to life with a curfew.
“We are all human. We understand that people have to walk their dogs,” said the watch commander. “We’re all in it together. We’re not out to destroy the community . . . I don’t want the community in fear of law enforcement.”
This curfew is different from the one in June, when there were widespread protests, looting and vandalism connected to outrage over the George Floyd death. In that case, the city of West Hollywood issued the curfew and the sheriff station was on high tactical alert in an effort to protect residents and property.
This curfew is mandated by the state of California in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
On Thursday, the state ordered that all the counties in the “purple” tier, the most restrictive tier of the state’s coronavirus monitoring system, go into a month-long overnight curfew. Some 41 of the state’s 58 counties are covered by this curfew including all of Southern California.
Curfew hours run 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., but essential workers are exempt. The curfew is currently scheduled to last until Dec. 21, but could be extended beyond that.
New COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed in recent weeks and officials fear hospitals will be overwhelmed with sick people if efforts aren’t implemented to slow the spread of the virus.
Although there were no protests in West Hollywood on Saturday night, there was a protest just a few miles down the road in Beverly Hills.
That protest appears to have been connected to pro-Donald Trump supporters protesting the election results, but also seemed to be protesting the curfew.
Beverly Hills has become the epicenter for rallies on the Westside of greater Los Angeles in recent months. Weekly pro-Trump rallies have occurred there since August. Since the announcement of Joe Biden’s election victory, those rallies have become protests of the election results.
It was very quiet in West Hollywood last night, thankfully.
I applaud the watch commander for their measured, reassuring words.
We can get through this, together!