Law enforcement entities have been dealing with the novel coronavirus 2019 pandemic in their own ways, though other than the closure of buildings it’s mostly been business as usual.

Dallas County Sheriff Chad Leonard says one thing that is different for his department and others around the state is that they’ve been looking into getting certain jail occupants out earlier than they typically would. “Specific inmates that we were looking at, that we submitted names to the courts and to the County Attorney’s Office, would have been people that are already in here that have medical conditions. And our understanding of the virus is that they’re more susceptible of the coronavirus if they have a pre-existing condition. We’re trying to work it out to where if there’s a need for them to be on house arrest we put them on house arrest, or if they can’t get out, we’re not letting them out. We’re just trying to segregate them as best we can to limit the amount of exposure that they would have with other people.”

Leonard adds, the courts have been limiting the amount of time people are gathered for hearings, and when possible they’ve used video conferencing for proceedings. However, many court dates have been postponed, particularly for people who have been released from jail. He also points out that the COVID-19 issues have only caused marginal delays on the construction of the new law enforcement center, though the opening of the facility will have to take place once the risk of the virus has diminished.