Some US police resist enforcing coronavirus mask mandates

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Lang Holland, the chief of police in tiny Marshall, Arkansas, said he thinks the threat of the coronavirus has been overstated and only wears a face mask if he's inside a business that requires them. He doesn't make his officers wear them either.

So the day after Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed an order requiring masks to be worn in public throughout Arkansas, Holland made it clear his department wasn't going to enforce the mandate in the Ozarks town of about 1,300, calling it an unconstitutional overreach.

“All I'm saying is if you want to wear a mask, you have the freedom to choose that," said Holland, who said he supports President Donald Trump. “It should not be dictated by the nanny state."

Holland is among a number of police chiefs and sheriffs in Arkansas and elsewhere who say they won't enforce statewide mask requirements, even within their departments. Some say they don't have the manpower to respond to every mask complaint, treating violations of the requirement as they would oft-ignored minor offenses such as jaywalking. Others, including Holland, reject the legal validity of mask requirements.

The pushback is concerning to health officials, who say a lack of enforcement could undermine what they say is a much-needed and simple step that can be taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“If people undermine that mandate, they undermine the public health benefits of masking in the setting of this pandemic, and that just doesn’t make any sense to me," said Dr. Cam Patterson, the chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who had called for a statewide requirement.

More than half the states have issued orders to wear masks in most public settings, with virus cases and hospitalizations on the rise. Polling shows overwhelming public support for...