Havre de Grace Police Change Lobby Etiquette: Coronavirus

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — Due to the governor's stay-at-home order and the mayor's state of emergency, the Havre de Grace Police Department has made what its personnel called some "adjustments." From the front door to the phone lines, authorities gave citizens of Havre de Grace an idea of what to expect.

Only one person will be allowed in the lobby at one time at 715 Pennington Avenue, where the ATM has been taken offline, the bathrooms have been closed to the public and there is a drop box outside so people can leave police paperwork without having to interact with anyone.

"If you need to get in touch with us, really you can do it over the phone," Capt. Joe Alton said.

Call the Havre de Grace Police Department at 410-939-2121.

Police encourage people to call if they need to file reports about low-level incidents and civil matters or are seeking police information or advice.

"It's not that we don't want to see you — trust me, I think anybody in this community knows we are a community-based police department," Alton said. "We miss seeing you probably just as much as you miss seeing us. But at this point in time right now in the world, we've got to do some things ... limiting our face-to-face encounters."

Callers are asked to be patient because they will be asked questions to determine whether they have been exposed to the virus. There's a new script for the dispatcher that may be a bit different.

"Three, four months ago when you called the police department, they weren't asking if you were sneezing, coughing," Alton said, asking for the public to realize things had changed due to the coronavirus pandemic. First responders are screening people for the virus, so they will know what gear to wear.

Starting Thursday, Alton said officers at the Havre de Grace Police Department would begin wearing masks inside the station.

When officers respond to calls, they may be wearing personal protective equipment as well such as goggles and gloves. Each officer will have equipment as well as a mask in case they are responding to a call where another person may have been exposed.

The new coronavirus is spread through person-to-person contact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends social distancing, or putting physical space between people and avoiding gatherings, as a way to slow its spread.

If it appears there are fewer people at the police station in Havre de Grace, that's because there are.

"We are stressing to the officers not being here in the building," Alton said. "We're actually using technology now to do roll call."

With the virtual roll call, he said a "sergeant will fire up a meeting" at the beginning of a shift and officers will participate from their patrol vehicles. It serves two purposes, Alton said, in that it limited face-to-face interaction and got police out on the road rather than in the roll-call room.

"The Havre de Grace Police Department is not closing. We're not going anywhere," Alton said.

'"We do have the best community here," said Havre de Grace Police Sgt. Dan Petz, who hosted the Facebook Live tour of the Havre de Grace police station with Alton.

"We love what we do. We love this community. Havre de Grace is strong ... just keep doing what you've been doing," Petz said. "We're going to be there with you."

Related: Havre de Grace Mayor Declares State Of Emergency