Employees can call the police if they have trouble enforcing the state mask ordinance among customers in businesses like grocery stores and restaurants, but call volumes have been low in Peterborough, Captain Ernest Belletete said on Thursday.
Peterborough police have been called out just twice in January to enforce the mask ordinance, he said.
“Any particular business has done what they can,” he said, by the time they call the police. If a customer refuses to put on a mask, leave, or gets belligerent, “they can certainly call us,” Belletete said.
An incident on Jan. 9 resulted in a Jaffrey man being banned from Nature’s Greengrocer after refusing to wear a mask and getting loud and aggressive before leaving the store. “We made him aware that he has to wear a mask if he goes in there,” Belletete said, but the store ultimately decided they didn’t want the customer back on the property. “That’s their right,” he said, and police coordinated with the Jaffrey department to serve a letter of no trespass.
On Jan. 12, police responded to the plaza at 1 Jaffrey Road after receiving a report from the Attorney General’s office that a restaurant there didn’t have enough space between seats at the bar and tables at the restaurant. They spoke to the owner about the ordinance and the consequences of non-compliance.
“It’s the owner’s responsibility to make sure the employees are wearing their masks,” Belletete said. Although Peterborough police have only issued verbal warnings so far, he said continued reports of violations would bring a written warning, “and then technically we could cite the owner of the property for disorderly conduct if it continues,” he said. Individual customers can be arrested for criminal trespass if they refuse to leave or put on a mask, he said, but so far, that hasn’t been an issue for Peterborough.
On Wednesday, the state House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee heard a bill that would reverse all previous consequences of violations, such as fines and arrests or criminal convictions, after the state of emergency ends. The state has issued sanctions against eight businesses throughout the pandemic, with collective fines totaling less than $10,000.