The Palm Beach Police Department has responded to more than 130 violations of town ordinance warnings since special measures were taken by officials to contain the spread of the coronavirus in town.

Police Chief Nicholas Caristo said it’s difficult to tally all the cases, but in all, the department has responded to 27 trespass violations in addition to five trespassing arrests. There also have been 36 complaints of “inappropriate social distancing.”

“The police department has no higher purpose than the safety of our residents,” Caristo said. “The Town of Palm Beach has a population that is particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. We have already lost two residents to this disease.”

The town announced a state of emergency on March 16 and implemented a curfew on March 17. Both will remain in place indefinitely.

Caristo also said if the community could self-isolate effectively, the rate of infection could be minimized, saving their own lives and the lives of others.

But the concern is also for the safety of police officers, Caristo said. When member of the public stay home, then police can focus on patrolling for criminals and preventing crime, rather that dealing with violations of the emergency ordinance.

“When the community doesn’t adhere to the shelter-in-place guidelines, we are inundated with calls about people not following emergency orders, who should be policing themselves, and response to those calls ties up officers that could be responding to emergencies,” he said.

The sentiment was echoed by Town Manager Kirk Blouin at the Town Manager’s livestream on Wednesday. He said that police were being called to mediate neighbors’ disputes regarding social distancing and other emergency violations.

“I ask people to be patient and be kind to one another. I understand everyone is frustrated, but we’ll get through it. It will get worse before it gets better,” Blouin said.

Public Information Officer Michael Ogrodnick said most of the violations were committed by non-residents, but he didn’t have the exact number. He also didn’t have the number for how many of the warnings issued were related to curfew or beach violations. He agreed with Blouin’s statement asking people to be more patient.

“It’s an adjustment for the whole community, and it’s an adjustment for the whole nation to be in a quarantine-type environment with curfews and travel restrictions in place,” Ogrodnick said. “So I understand people are frustrated.”

He said that these situations sometimes require for officers as “guardians of the community” to attempt to find an amicable solution to these disputes.

On March 30, five people were arrested on Midtown Beach and South Ocean Boulevard on charges of violating the town’s emergency ordinance that prohibits people from being on the beach during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve moved from educating the public to reinforcing the ordinance because many people are disregarding it,” Ogrodnick told the Daily News. “ We would prefer not to do this, but our goal is to keep everybody safe,” Ogrodnick said.

In addition, two people — one from Loxahatchee and another from Palm Springs — were arrested on multiple drug possession charges after they were stopped by police for driving in town during the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.

On March 24, Caristo issued tighter restrictions on the use of the Lake Trail, following section 58-41 of the town’s Code of Ordinances. The new regulations included only allowing walkers, runners, and children 12 and younger on bicycles on the Lake Trail from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

But following a landslide of complaints from residents and after a March 27 special town council meeting, the hours were adjusted to runners and walkers being allowed on the Lake Trail from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with cycling activities taking place outside of these times.

Motorized equipment, including motorized skateboards, are not permitted on the trail at anytime.

adelgado@pbdailynews.com

@litadriana