Comment on Borkovich, fellow county sheriffs defy Gov. Whitmer, claim they will selectively enforce State’s social distancing executive order by Fred LaPoint

When you took your oath when you were sworn in as the sheriff for your jurisdiction, you didn’t swear to uphold only those laws you saw as being politically expedient or that you found palatable. You swore an oath to uphold them all. If you can’t do that without inserting your political agendas into the mix, or you have now decided to protect and serve only those who aren’t at higher risk of contracting a deadly disease then perhaps it’s time you step down and let someone committed to doing the job justly by protecting everyone equally under the law.
You (sheriffs) are law enforcement officers as the name suggests. If you choose to politicize the process then you aren’t doing the job they were elected to do…protect and serve…not just republicans or democrats or young or old but everyone. This is not how you lead. Stating that the emergency laws only confuse Michigan citizens is not correct. While they may be confusing at times that is not the only thing they accomplish. With deciding that they will leave it up to the discretion of the individual officers how to enforce the law, now people not only need to understand what those rules say, what the Attorney General is opining, and what the FAQs state, but also they have to guess what a sheriff, or one of their officers, will do with any given set of facts and circumstances. That is not how law enforcement is supposed to work.
I will give you an example that was posted by a friend. “This gives each individual officer the total discretion to decide if any activity is allowable or not. Officer “A” likes to fish on the big lake, he doesn’t understand why the Governor has stopped the use of fishing boats, therefore Officer “A” will not enforce that rule. Officer “B” does not care for fishing but he cares a great deal about his church. On Saturday Officer “B” enforces the rule banning fishing with a motorized boat but on Sunday he allows his church’s congregation to assemble at their pancake breakfast. It is not the officer’s job or role to decide which rules to enforce and when. We should all agree that if Officer “B” would allowed his church to assemble for a pancake breakfast but would not allow Officer “A”’s church to do the same thing that would be wrong.”
The focus of a county sheriff is not to get people back to work or inject their political viewpoints into law enforcement. They are not economic advisers or medical experts and it is not their role to get us back to work. Even with the widest interpretation of a sheriff’s powers there is no mention of getting people back to work. I am extremely disappointed in the lack of foresight, leadership, and fiduciary responsibility that these four have displayed in authoring this document.