Miami-Dade County is Using a Mask Mandate to Harass Lawful Individuals

Miami-Dade County is using the Wuhan virus pandemic to implement a money grab.

On July 16, Miami-Dade County commissioners “unanimously voted to turn residents and tourists into walking ATM’s yesterday when they made violation of the county mayors’ mask order a civil infraction”, according to a report from Yvonne Larsen at County Examiner.

Those who are caught indoors or outdoors without wearing a mask in Mami-Dade County can now receive fines of $100.00. The Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners greenlit the civil fine on July 16 and is now in effect. Miami-Dade police and code enforcement officers will be the ones tasked with issuing violations to residents and tourists who don’t follow these orders.

Miami-Dade County mayor Carlos Gimenez praised the commission’s decision on Twitter:

I applaud @MiamiDadeBCC‘s unanimous decision to make the violation of our masks order a civil infraction. This allows code enforcement officers to issue citations to those who don’t comply with the emergency order in @MiamiDadeCounty, helping police with this task.

Those who cannot pay the fine must do community service.

Larsen offered a big picture take on this new ordinance:

Amid a deepening divide over the health aspects of wearing a mask we’ve already reported has the effect of suppressing expression and speech, cities and counties across the country for years have generated millions, if not billions of dollars from fines and fees in order to maximize revenues.

Furthermore, such actions demonstrate misplaced priorities by law enforcement and elected officials by focusing on non-crimes while letting real crimes happen. Instead, the political class would rather focus on policies that extract as much revenue as possible from lawful citizens.

Larsen highlighted how a number of violent criminals were booked in Miami-Dade county jail:

On July 16th, the same day Miami Dade commissioners met and according to public records there were more than 30 bookings into Miami Dade county jail. The reasons for arrest ranged from battery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, retail theft and battery to first degree murder.

I bet residents and tourists to Miami Dade would prefer law enforcement spend their time focused on real public safety threats such as homicides and murder as opposed to treating tourists and residents like cash cows to pad their budgets.

The current Wuhan virus pandemic embodies the irresponsible actions of politicians, who would rather persecute innocent people as opposed to maintaining public order and arresting real criminals.