Bellevue citizens report 567 social distancing violations so far in app

As the Stay Home, Stay Healthy initiative remains in place statewide, there have been reports of groups violating or ignoring the rules, putting both themselves and the community at risk.

Complaints of social distancing violations are being handled in a unique way by the Bellevue Police Department, letting the public submit reports through the MyBellevue app.

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“The MyBellevue app has existed before COVID-19. It was developed as an easy way for our citizens to report their concerns about the city,” Bellevue PD Major Andrew Popochock told KIRO Radio’s Gee and Ursula Show.

Now, MyBellevue has the capability for citizens to report social distancing issues and violations through the same app. Since launching the new reporting feature, there have been 567 reports.

The hope was that allowing people to report these violations on MyBellevue would prevent an overwhelming amount of calls coming to the 911 center.

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“Any time that you have concerns or you see a social distancing issue, you can absolutely go on the app and report it to us,” Popochock said.

The officers can see a heat map of reports, and have the option to check up areas that may have a lot of reports between their other calls. Officers can also see the text of each individual report.

Bellevue police department is working in partnership with the parks department and other entities to address the issues seen in the reports on the app. If there are a lot of reports from a particular area, the departments can work together to determine if there needs to be more signage installed or what the best course of action may be for the community.

The reports submitted to the app vary from spotting groups of people at a park, on a dock, playing basketball, or a house party. The most common complaints have been in regards to construction sites and gatherings at schools or parks.

“It’s whatever our citizens are reporting to us as something where someone’s violating social distancing,” Popochock said.

In terms of enforcement, the Bellevue police is not taking action at this time. Popochock said the police department’s role is to educate and inform.

“We go out there and we educate people about what the law says,” he said. “There is some dis-information in the community about, for example, our city of Bellevue Parks being closed, which is not correct. Our parks are open.”

The police officers are trying make sure citizens know the rules first, and then ask them to abide by those rules. Even just the presence of a police car driving by can sometimes help to address the fear of crime in the community and make people feel safe during this uncertain time, Popochock said.

“Our job in law enforcement is to go out there and educate the community whether it be on a speeding ticket where we have the ability to give you a citation or we have ability to give you a verbal warning depending upon the educational process,” he said. “Our role in this is the same way, to go out there and educate the community.”

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.