Porter County
Prosecuting Attorney Gary Germann--who last week announced that he has
authorized law enforcement agencies to arrest and charge those found
flagrantly in violation of the governor’s shelter-in-place order--has shared
with the Chesterton Tribune his response to a resident who asked him,
in an e-mail, “Where in the Constitution does it say that the government has
the right to restrict travel by private citizens.”
Germann’s response:
“You ask a great
question. First, in the context of the governor’s executive order we have
not been asked to stay at home. The order only restricts non-essential
travel in light of the developing research that the virus is so highly
contagious it spreads easily and quickly from person to person. Two good
examples are New Orleans and the Spring Break crowds on the Florida beaches.
"Second, the
authority for the executive order is set forth in a specific Indiana statute
found in Title 10 for emergency purposes to protect all of our
citizens in case of something like this. I hope we can all agree this rises
to the level of an emergency.
“Third, the order
itself is meant to call on our common sense so we do not unwittingly infect
someone with whom we interact, whether it be at the store, within our
families, and among our friends. There are a number of activities outside
the home that are not only permitted but encouraged, so long as the approved
social-distancing guidelines are being followed. Given my extensive
commitment to the safety of our community, meaning everyone who lives here,
I am encouraging everyone, yes, everyone, to do their best to comply. I
never wanted to be or seem heavy-handed about the order and how it is
enforced, but rather I am looking for a spirit of cooperation to curb the
virus and maybe reduce the death toll because that is a real, as opposed to
an imagined, concern.
Finally, the reason
why your question is a great one is because it addresses one of the
fundamental issues any democracy faces, and that is what happens in that
democracy when individual rights conflict potentially with the best
interests of the democracy as a whole. I wish I had the answer to that
question when that occurs, and it does happen from time to time. In the case
at hand, I think the order of the governor is intended to strike a balance
as best he can.
“As I mentioned, we
in law enforcement have no intention to arrest anyone but instead we are
relying on people and their commonsense to take the appropriate and
sacrificial steps to protect themselves and their neighhbors.”