Tucson’s leaders were preparing a possible curfew for the city’s downtown area when they saw the governor’s tweet Sunday afternoon.

Ironically, the tweet began “At the request of local leaders” then went on to announce a statewide, weeklong curfew. I researched all 50 states and found Arizona's is the only statewide curfew in the United States. I could find no other examples of a weeklong curfew either.

Gov. Doug Ducey took this drastic measure, it turns out, without consulting the local leaders who run Tucson, Phoenix or Scottsdale — the three cities that had experienced violence and property damage connected to the protests of the last few days.

“We went back and forth in our discussion” of a curfew, Tucson police Chief Chris Magnus told me Sunday evening. “We spent about an hour. Ultimately, we decided it would be advantageous. We had a conversation with the mayor. We had plans to bring it before the city council later today.”

Then came the tweet.

The governor’s office justified the broad sweep of the measure by explaining that communities around the state, outside those already affected, might need to make use of such powers as incidents arise. Or looters could simply go from a city with a curfew to one without. Ducey’s spokesman, Patrick Ptak, noted a little-known example to me: There was a 150-person demonstration in Prescott Valley Saturday.

Indeed, there were a couple of scuffles outside the Prescott Valley Police Department when counter-demonstrators showed up to confront anti-police-brutality demonstrators. The local police had to separate the two sides until the counter demonstrators were convinced to go home.

“We want them to be prepared for it to happen,” Ptak said. “We don’t want another municipality to be caught off guard.”

Scottsdale, mysteriously, had been caught off guard. Although there were plans spreading openly on social media Saturday to loot Scottsdale Fashion Square that night, there were insufficient police there to stop it when it started.

That mistake, it appears, prompted the statewide order — a sort of collective punishment for an individual error.

Instantly, though, the order became optional in the eyes of some of those who would have to enforce it. Around the state, police chiefs in smaller towns and cities said their citizens could ignore the curfew.

“Although the Eagar Police Department respects Gov. Ducey’s curfew, the Eagar Police Department will not enforce this curfew at this time,” Chief Shane Bevington, of the eastern Arizona town, said in a written statement. “Because the civil unrest appears to be centralized in large metropolitan areas and not in rural communities like ours, you can be assured that your personal freedoms will not be restricted in any way.”

The order is a curfew, but it has many exceptions. You can operate or patronize a business. You can go to work or visit family. You can go to church or to buy food.

Tucson police have said they don’t plan to enforce it except in the downtown area where they already were planning a curfew, or if things happen to get out of hand elsewhere.

But that’s part of what makes it disturbing. Police can enforce the statewide curfew as they wish. If they want to enforce it in Safford, they can. If they want to enforce it in Bullhead City, they can. If they want to enforce it based on personal enmities or biases, they can.

A statewide curfew is a blunt instrument, no matter how many exemptions it has and no matter how much police say they plan not to use it.

A statewide curfew also sends a message, intended or not, that Arizona is having widespread problems. Many people will stay home even if they might have wanted to go out to do something — such as support some of the restaurants and bars that have been rocked by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Some people will wonder whether they can even take their nighttime walks — a nice practice during the hot summer months. We are, after all, formally forbidden to be on the streets except for the purposes spelled out in the order.

But Gov. Ducey has gotten used to governing by dictate lately.

The Yankee Institute for Public Policy ranked governors last week by the number of executive orders they’ve issued during the pandemic. No. 1 was Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at 87 executive orders. Ducey came in 8th, with 47.

It would have been better to let the cities or counties work out plans tailored to their localities. Maricopa County could have had a countywide curfew, if pop-up looting was a worry. And if Tucson leaders didn’t think a citywide curfew was necessary, how is it the governor knew better — especially without consulting them?

On the other hand, it could have been worse. I’m just glad they didn’t loot Paradise Valley. Martial law? Summary execution? Who knows how harsh the response would have been.


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Contact: tsteller@tucson.com or 807-7789. On Twitter: @senyorreporter