Bowie Police Chief Provides Update On Coronavirus Response

BOWIE, MD — Being a police chief during regular times can be challenging enough, but add the coronavirus pandemic and things become even more challenging. According to Bowie Chief of Police John Nesky, his department has adapted to the new normal.

"I could not be prouder of the way the department's stepping up and taking care of things," he said. "They're calm. They're cool. They're reasoned, and life continues for the department. We are making sure that we're there for the residents and to fulfill our duties."

Nesky is working on his 27th year in law enforcement. After coming out of the U.S. Army as an MP, he joined the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., serving in District Heights. In December 2006, he became a deputy chief in Bowie under the city's first Chief Kathy Perez, working together to build the department from scratch. In March 2011, Nesky was appointed chief.

Some of the first steps BPD took in response to the coronavirus was limiting public access to police headquarters to reduce the risk of exposure to its personnel and switching to tele-reporting, in which officers take police reports for non-emergencies over the phone rather than in person. Members of the public who wish to report an emergency are encouraged to call 9-1-1 as always.

In addition, Nesky recently posted one of his Chief Chat videos on Facebook to update the public on how his department is handling the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. He also took a few minutes to answer the following questions from Patch:

Patch: What changes has the police department made in response to the coronavirus?

Nesky: The only thing we really changed is our schedules. We've moved our detectives and our community services people into the patrol rotation, so we can rotate people between directly working the road and working in a telephone reporting context to reduce their exposure time. We've also changed our posture on the PPE equipment. In the beginning, it was different. If you had a possible contagion inside the house, the personal protective equipment will come into play. Due to the fact that you can be contagious without presenting symptoms, we've instructed the officers that they're authorized to wear their mask and gloves whenever dealing directly with the public.

What's been the public's response to what you've done regarding the coronavirus?

The public's response to anything that we've done has been fine. There's been no issues, no questions, no pushback. The major educational piece has been how to handle the directives and how to conduct daily life within those directives.

Have the Bowie Police had to enforce the public gathering and social distancing directives in Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's stay-at-home order?

We've had to do that a couple of times. We haven't had to do any enforcement. It's been more education and voluntary compliance. We haven't had to actually charge anybody, but we have been out to a number of areas to break up groups and businesses that should not be open.

Are you telling businesses that they have to be closed?

We did one. I'm not going to name them. Again, you either follow the essential exception or you don't. They're pretty well laid out in the governor's list and directive. You're either on the list or you're not. You're either fulfilling that essential function or you're not.

What is your biggest concern at this point?

The most challenging aspect of this is the open-endedness of it and the daily changing information as they learn more about the virus. If you remember correctly, when it first came out, the doctrine was if you are not symptomatic, then you're not contagious. Well, the more they found out about the virus, the more they realized that you can be contagious and not symptomatic, which kind of changes the dynamic of things. It's just those daily changes and adjustments that wear on you after a little bit. But again, it's part of our duties. It's part of our job. You step up and handle it.

Have you changed how you're enforcing the laws to help reduce exposure to officers and possible suspects?

Where we can, we are. Again, that's not to say we're not enforcing it. When there's an alternative to a full-custody arrest, we try to find that alternative. If there's not, then we handle things as usual. But again that fact of trying to reduce exposure for both the officer and the person that's on the other end of the issue, throwing them into the population of containment we're trying to reduce as much as we can, if there is a logical and viable alternative to the full-custody arrest.

Is there anything you wanted to say to the public?

It's just be patient, be kind and let's listen to the directive. The only way we're going to flatten the curve is by being unified and acting as one in the best interest of everyone.