# Presentation: 901359

## Pandemic Flu Outbreak:Many Duties; One Sheriff

- Presentation by:
**Judge Linda L. Chezem (Retired)**
- National Sheriffs Association Annual Meeting
- Orlando, Florida
- Monday, June 19, 2006

## Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt

**“****Avian flu . . . will severely test the best-laid plans . . . and many companies are not making any plans at all. ****Those expecting the federal government to ride in and come to their rescue [will] be sorely disappointed.” **[emphasis added]

## How Will You Put the Pieces Together?

**Court Security**

**Paper Service**

**Jail and Detention Center **

**Law Enforcement**

**Prisoner Transportation**

**County Duties**

**Tax Warrants**

## Not Your Usual Emergency 

**Planning is essential to assuring the orderly administration of justice. **
**The health of the justice system staff, as well as the health of the community, may depend on the sheriff’s’ preparedness. **
**Good luck happens to the best prepared.**

## The Lack of Working Knowledge 

**Most current office holders have never experienced a pandemic outbreak.**
**Case law is dated.**
**Statutory requirements for the Sheriff predate the current level of cost for medical care for those in custody. **
**Public health uses some of the same terminology as that used in legal settings, but they don’t always mean what you think they mean. **

## JUSTICE and HEALTH

** ****Justice Goal: Preserve Rule of Law**

**  ****Public Health Goal: Use the Law to Protect Health**

## Starting with You 

**Get a flu shot. There is no vaccine for avian flu but it may boost your overall immunity, health officials say. **
**Wash your hands to wash away the flu virus **
**Cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough **
**Stay home if you are sick. **

## Inoculate Your Jail

**Screen employees who patrol or work in  known outbreak areas before they return to the office or the jail to avoid spreading infection.**
**Beef up audio and video conferencing to avoid face to face meeting with ill people or where outbreaks have occurred.**

## Protect Your Administrative Staff

**Identify workers who may be added to the remote access rolls in the event of an outbreak **

**Make sure they have the gear and authorization they need to work from home**

## Does Current Sick Leave Policy

**Encourage those who have symptoms to report to work or stay home?**
**Address reporting to work with a cold or flu? **
**Provide guidance on reporting **_**exposure**_** to contagious disease? **

## Personnel Plans 

**Adequate number of people for safe operation **
**Qualified staff (cross training) to do all essential duties **
**Working conditions, telework,  as well as personal needs such as assistance for transportation **
**Protection for staff **
**Safety and protective gear **
**Vaccinations **
**Safe water and air**

##   Physical Facilities Templates

**Safety **
**Is air handling done by a recirculation system?**
**Are hand washing facilities convenient?**
**Security**
**Accessibility**
**Use of alternate facilities**

## Could You Be a Virtual Jailor?

**A pandemic flu outbreak could  prevent the booking of any new prisoners or defendants from going to court or leaving the jail when no legal hold remains.**
** **
**What protocols are needed for offender control and release?**
** ****What might be some electronic solutions?**

## Service of Court Papers

**How will departments make proper service of orders to protect provide due process and not endanger personnel?**

## Get the Technology

**Estimate the increased load on remote access gear and upgrade accordingly.**
**Tune help desks so they can deal efficiently with a likely increased workload.**
**Stage dry runs of procedures that would kick in when there is an outbreak.**

## Work with the Courts

**	****Indiana Supreme Court has tasked the Court Management Committee to engage in an all hazards planning review. **

**Template for the local courts - Sheriff’s role is essential****  **

## Pieces of the Law Puzzle

**The relevant cases are old.**
**Statutes predate the court rules of procedure, administration, and evidence.**
**Public health grounded in administrative law approach, not adjudicative. **

## More Tough Questions

**What planning is needed for  the programs that are administered by the judicial branch such as detention centers, probation and casework services, DUI services but closely impact Sheriff’s duties?**
**How will we protect the mentally ill, alcoholic, addicted, and others with disabilities that will affect their compliance with court orders? **

## Alabama

**Duty of sheriff, etc., as to food. **
**http://alisdb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/CodeOfAlabama/1975/coatoc.htm **
**The sheriff, the chief of police or town marshal or the keeper or manager of the almshouse shall see that the food for the inmates of the jail, prison and almshouse, respectively, is nutritious, clean, wholesome and of sufficient quantity and variety and shall have all kitchens where food is prepared for the inmates adequately screened against flies.**

## Wyoming

- _[http://legisweb.state.wy.us/statutes/titles/07Title7_2006.htm](http://legisweb.state.wy.us/statutes/titles/07Title7_2006.htm)_
**7-11-503. Execution of jail sentence. **
**When any person convicted of an offense is sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail, the court shall order the defendant into the custody of the sheriff, who shall deliver him, together with the record of conviction, to the jailor, in whose custody he shall remain in the jail of the proper county, until the term of his confinement expires, or he is pardoned or otherwise legally discharged.**

## Bill Noland, Sheriff from 1990 - 1996CARTER COUNTY SHERIFF DEPARTMENT, 100 South Washington, Ardmore, OK 73401

**The office of county sheriff was created by Article XVII, Section 2 of the Oklahoma Constitution, and that office is vested with the authority to uphold the laws of the State. Historically, the general duties of the county sheriff are as follows: **
**1. Enforcing laws enacted for the protection of the lives, persons, property, health and morals of the people; **
**2. Investigating crimes; **
**3. Attending terms of court; **
**4. Serving, executing and returning process; **
**5. Keeping custody of courthouse and jail; **
**6. Keeping custody and control of convicts; **
**7. Collecting taxes; **

## RESOURCES

**http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/pandemic/pandemic_main.html**
**http://spa.american.edu/justice/csdp.php**
**http://www.publichealthlaw.info/**
- _[http://www.in.gov/isdh/trainingop/virt_lib_prep.htm](http://www.in.gov/isdh/trainingop/virt_lib_prep.htm)_
- _[www.pandemicflu.gov](http://www.pandemicflu.gov/)_
**http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/pandemics/tabletopex.html**