COLORADO SPRINGS — District Attorney Dan May gave clarification Tuesday to El Paso County Commissioners on the governor's mask order.
May said the order by itself is not enforceable by a criminal law standard. But, if the health department issued a Rule, that would be enforceable.
He said the governor's order was very specific not to include the Health Dept. Rule. If it did, it could have resulted in the 911 system being swamped with calls.
"My Sheriffs, Bill Elder and Jason Mikesell, have come out and said: 'We're not going to give tickets, but we will enforce the trespassing.' Essentially, what they're saying there is, we're gonna enforce everything the governor has promulgated. Everything in his order. So, they are not refusing to enforce anything the governor has ordered. In fact, they've said they are going to enforce everything he has ordered," May said.
The governor's order does give businesses the right to ask someone to wear a mask, and if they don't, ask them to leave. The business owner can call police and press charges for trespassing.
