City of El Paso Outlines Stepped Up Stay Home Enforcement Action

City officials say complaints of residents not following the Stay at Home Order keep growing so they've streamlined the process to allow enforcement officers to respond quicker.

“We’re still getting thousands of reports of people not complying with the directive as it stands now,” Mayor Margo stated during the 4/15 virtual press conference.

The directive, in its most basic form, means residents must stay at home except to conduct essential business and activities. It also forbids private gatherings of any number of people anywhere. In other words, if you don’t live there you shouldn’t be there.

Per Fire Chief Mario D’Agostino, the process to report a violation will change to a more real-time approach. Effective immediately anyone who calls 3-1-1 will no longer be re-directed to fill out an intake form online. “We’re hoping to streamline the process so it’s not just Email processing and then going out later after the fact,” he said. “We’re trying to be able to be proactive and we’re going to actually respond to it accordingly.”

Instead what will happen now is the 3-1-1 operator will take the information down and, in the case of high priority or flagrant violations, dispatch an enforcement officer immediately. The hope is catch violators in the act. D’Agostino added you can still file a complaint online.

Those found gathering at homes, city parks, or otherwise not complying with the order could face a fine of up to $1,000.00, or do up to 180 days in jail.