People have been complaining about
businesses not observing the governor’s stay-at-home order. Yesterday, Governor
Inslee announced a three-point program to enforce his order. Enforcement will
consist of three phases:
1. Educate
businesses and encourage voluntary compliance.
2. If
education fails, state regulators could cite and revoke their business licenses.
3. If
the business continues violating the order, it can be referred to the
Washington State Attorney General’s Office for civil or criminal charges.
People have been calling 911 with their
complaints, interfering with calls reporting crimes, medical emergencies, and
fires. Officials said that citizens should not call 911 if their sole complaint
is a violation of the stay-at-home order. They should use a new online
complaint form for stay-at-home violations at,
In a related matter, the King
County Sheriff’s Office has warned King County citizens about scammers calling
residents to tell them that police have a warrant out for the citizen for breaking
the quarantine. Like many of these scams, the resident can pay a fine over the
phone, this time by giving the scammer their banking information.
While most of us will see through
this the shock of hearing the words that a warrant is out for their arrest from
a random phone call, some people will become fearful enough to follow the
scammer’s demands. And of course, police will not call you to let you know that
they have a warrant for your arrest, especially out of the blue. Notice that
the procedure announced by Governor Inslee gives violating businesses plenty of
notice. By the time court action comes along, a violating business should have
a pretty good idea that it is in trouble. Police or even the Attorney General’s
Office are not going to call you to demand money.
The Seattle Times:
The Herald:
King County Sheriff’s Office:
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