.Police can use force to compel hurricane evacuation
A new state law will allow police to arrest people who don’t leave town under mandatory evacuation orders.
As it stands, officials cannot compel people to evacuate, only warn that those who stay behind won’t have any emergency services at their disposal. The new law gives county judges and mayors the power to authorize use of “reasonable force” to remove people from the area.
The law, passed this year, takes effect Sept. 1, in the heart of hurricane season in Texas. It also applies to other disasters, such as fires or floods.
Don’t expect police to go door to door arresting people or forcing them from their homes if a hurricane is headed toward Corpus Christi.
“If the hurricane is arriving here, we’re going to be doing the best we can to hunker things down, to make sure we have as many special-needs patients evacuated, to prevent crime and looting,” Corpus Christi Police Cmdr. Mark Schauer said. “We’re going to have a hard enough time preventing crime, let alone arresting people who don’t leave.”
County Judge Loyd Neal agreed that arrests for ignoring orders are unlikely.
“I don’t have a jail big enough to put 20,000 people in,” Neal said. “You have to hope people will use good sense. The majority of people usually do.”
Schauer sees the law more as a tool to compel people to leave, or to be used in special situations. For example, officials could issue a mandatory evacuation for the beaches, giving police the authority to arrest people who go storm-watching and put themselves in danger.
A man died after being swept off a Packery Channel jetty last summer as he watched swells caused by Hurricane Ike as it headed toward Galveston.
The law also makes people who must be rescued after ignoring mandatory evacuation orders civilly liable for the costs of the rescue.
A mandatory evacuation order often is a course of last resort, for a variety of economic and logistical reasons. Hospitals and nursing homes must move patients, and businesses must let workers leave town.
The evacuation provision is part of a larger bill overhauling the emergency response code after Hurricane Ike. The bill also directs the Governo
Caller Times
I guess we can argue who's to blame for the stupidities, the cops or the legislators.
As it stands, officials cannot compel people to evacuate, only warn that those who stay behind won’t have any emergency services at their disposal. The new law gives county judges and mayors the power to authorize use of “reasonable force” to remove people from the area.
The law, passed this year, takes effect Sept. 1, in the heart of hurricane season in Texas. It also applies to other disasters, such as fires or floods.
Don’t expect police to go door to door arresting people or forcing them from their homes if a hurricane is headed toward Corpus Christi.
“If the hurricane is arriving here, we’re going to be doing the best we can to hunker things down, to make sure we have as many special-needs patients evacuated, to prevent crime and looting,” Corpus Christi Police Cmdr. Mark Schauer said. “We’re going to have a hard enough time preventing crime, let alone arresting people who don’t leave.”
County Judge Loyd Neal agreed that arrests for ignoring orders are unlikely.
“I don’t have a jail big enough to put 20,000 people in,” Neal said. “You have to hope people will use good sense. The majority of people usually do.”
Schauer sees the law more as a tool to compel people to leave, or to be used in special situations. For example, officials could issue a mandatory evacuation for the beaches, giving police the authority to arrest people who go storm-watching and put themselves in danger.
A man died after being swept off a Packery Channel jetty last summer as he watched swells caused by Hurricane Ike as it headed toward Galveston.
The law also makes people who must be rescued after ignoring mandatory evacuation orders civilly liable for the costs of the rescue.
A mandatory evacuation order often is a course of last resort, for a variety of economic and logistical reasons. Hospitals and nursing homes must move patients, and businesses must let workers leave town.
The evacuation provision is part of a larger bill overhauling the emergency response code after Hurricane Ike. The bill also directs the Governo
Caller Times
I guess we can argue who's to blame for the stupidities, the cops or the legislators.
posted by madtom at 7:59 PM
9 Comments:
Blame it on a society where no one takes responsibility for themselves. The law should read that no official will be allowed to take any action as a public official to render aid to anyone who chooses to stay behind. If they want to stay, they are on their own. If you choose to help them, you do so on your own dime and at your own risk.
Maybe if I fill out the right form, listing all the stuff in My hurricane kit, I can get a waiver, and be except from being evicted from my own property. If I'm lucky
But to tell you truth, that's what I thought guns were for.
I read some comments by some TX legislators that indicates that was the purpose of the law--- If you stay, don't call and tell us expecting someone to come find you when it's over, don't make a show of staying, we don't want to know cuz you are on your own. They won't go door to door looking for holdouts. I still say my proposal is more straightforward, but I guess you have to prevent idiots from calling for help when they do stupid things, and jail time should work for some of them.
That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard.
No one can predict the next disaster.
How about if they evacuate the wrong people, can you call and expect help after some disaster if you were not technicality within the evacuation zone, but yet hit hard by the disaster?
Is this the long, or short, rescue form you need to fill out?
Well, MT, I expect that unless you are in the area under mandatory evacuation, you aren't breaking the law by not evacuating and should expect emergency government services. Why do you think anyone should be obligated by law to come to your aid at risk to themselves and government property if you refuse a lawful order to evacuate? Why should taxpayers stand fiscally obligated to provide you with services when you are breaking the law? For that matter, why should I, as a fed taxpayer, have to subsidize and rebuild areas prone to disasters and make whole people who live in beach side houses, mobile homes in hurricane zones, etc? What's wrong with making your own judgments and living with the consequences? We subsidize stupidity and enable them to reproduce. I thought you were an evolutionist?
"order to evacuate?"
Yeah sure, It's the governments only job, and they are going to legislate that away...
Today a hurricane, tomorrow..
When did it become the government's only job, saving people from their own stupidity? We have hordes of people who are too stupid to come in out of the rain, much less seek high ground in a flood, and then they get to scream they are being discriminated against or denied their rights when they get wet. I can respect someone who decides to stay and protect what's theirs, until they expect someone to risk their lives or spend public money in order to rescue them from that decision.
No their job is to move in with assistance when some disaster overwhelms all local capability.
Not to try to make it all right again, just to assist.
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