Stay-at-home rules bring out neighbors seeking violations

The coronavirus emergency has some people so scared and preoccupied, they are searching in their neighbors’ trash.

The Twitter account “BestofNextdoor,” which tracks amusing or outlandish entries to the online neighborhood bulletin board NextDoor, this week highlighted a “Bay Area” resident worried about potential green violations using evidence uncovered by spying on a neighbor who was buying Clorox bleach wipes.

“I was concerned that they might be flushing them so I have been sorting through their bins when they put them out for collection,” the anonymous Sherlock Holmes wrote in the tense dispatch, adding that he had checked and found that the snooping was “totally legal.”

“I called EMBUD and they don’t seem to have an enforcement division and they kind of blew me off,” the person wrote, referring to the East Bay Municipal Utility District that provides water and sewage treatment. “Does anyone know which authorities I should contact about this?”

Authorities are trying to sort out requests like that have cropped up as people navigate the line between stay-at-home rules and everyday activities such as exercise.

The often opaque guidelines create myriad chances that someone somewhere will violate a real or perceived guideline of coronavirus etiquette.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office arrested a paddleboarder in Malibu who failed to abide by loudspeaker requests that he vacate the Pacific Ocean. Southern California beaches have been closed as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s general lockdown order issued March 19. The recalcitrant paddleboarder was given a misdemeanor summons for “not obeying a lifeguard,” according to CBS Los Angeles.

In the District of Columbia, some people even seem to think weightlifting in your yard is a breach of coronavirus domestication.

Jack Murphy, a podcaster known for writing a book called “Democrat to Deplorable,” was ratted out to the cops by a neighbor for doing deadlifts in the front yard.

The incident blew up on Twitter, with Mr. Murphy tweeting, “The police did come. One car came. Then another. They came up to me as I sat on my porch.”

According to Mr. Murphy, he confirmed that he had been weightlifting and asked the cops “is this a violation? Do I need to modify my behavior?”

“They said no,” he tweeted. “They were embarrassed.”

Police find themselves in uncharted territory.

Jack Dunphy, the pen name of a former Los Angeles Police Department officer, wrote that he has become depressed by policing in the age of coronavirus.

“It saddens me to observe some of the asininity on among some of my fellow police officers in recent days as fear of the coronavirus pandemic brings the country to its knees,” Mr. Dunphy wrote this week at PJ Media.

“Here in Southern California, we have seen police officers ticketing a surfer on an otherwise empty beach, citing people for sitting in parked cars while watching a sunset, and, in what may be the most farcical display of them all, using not one but two boats to corral and arrest a lone paddleboarder,” he wrote.

The effort, which Mr. Dunphy called “lunacy,” has also kept law enforcement from performing its more traditional roles in some areas.

Mr. Dunphy pointed to a “skid row area” teeming with drug use and the, like that is “along the 101 Freeway where it can be viewed from the nearby Hall of Justice, the headquarters for both the L.A. County District Attorney and, yes, the Sheriff’s Department.”

In some cases, coronavirus-scofflaws invite police intervention.

Authorities in Cincinnati arrested 25-year-old Rashaan Davis last weekend after he livestreamed a rocking party and shouted, “We don’t give a f—k about this coronavirus! This is how we celebrate our coronavirus!”

But exercise itself, as Mr. Murphy’s experience Monday suggests, has become a problematic outlet, even in some places that would seem to provide ample opportunity for social distancing.

“To minimize the spread or contraction of COVID-19, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is urging all hikers to stay away from the Appalachian Trail, whether for a day-hike, section-hike or thru-hike,” the organization posted March 23. “Hikers currently on the Trail are asked to leave.”

The National Park Service announced it is modifying its operations on a park-by-park basis, per the latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from state and local public health authorities.

“While most facilities and events are closed or canceled, many of our outdoor spaces remain accessible to the public,” its website states.

In Michigan, officials said they haven’t had any bizarre calls for policing public areas, though some of them, especially very popular fishing locations, have been shut down and camping is forbidden.

“Dispersed camping on state forest land is not allowed,” said Edward Golder, a spokesman for Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources.

Rangers are still more than ready to whip out the book, however, and hit the wayward outdoorsman with a fine.

“Our state parks, trails and forest lands remain largely open for day use,” Mr. Golder said. “However, we are reminding people that all social distancing requirements at these locations continue to apply. Signs at state parks remind people that violation of social distancing requirements is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.”

Famously outdoorsy Colorado seems to have conflicting coronavirus rules. On the one hand, “recreate,” an apparent reference to exercise, is listed as an essential activity. On the other hand, all but necessary travel is forbidden (Colorado’s emphasis).

“Yes, people can drive to the trailhead if it is in their communities and they are practicing social distancing,” said a state spokeswoman. “Coloradans are still encouraged to get outside to exercise and hike, we are just asking that they don’t leave their communities to do so.”