Public urged to follow lockdown guidance

2 November 2020

Police officers will once again be in the front-line of the nation’s response to the pandemic and will ensure that people follow the restrictions imposed during the second national lockdown in England, says Derbyshire Police Federation chair Tony Wetton.

Due to rising infection rates, Derbyshire moved into the second tier of coronavirus restrictions on Saturday but, just hours later, the Prime Minister announced the whole of England would be placed in a second lockdown from Thursday this week.

“Police officers will once again be on the front-line, trying to encourage people to follow the new guidelines,” says Tony, “But we need the public to play their part too. I expect that officers will continue to follow the Four Es approach of engaging, explaining, encouraging and, where necessary, enforcing as a last resort. 

"Again we hope for clarity from the Government in terms of what the public are allowed to do and what is expected from policing in terms of supporting the efforts to get control of the virus.  What was really encouraging was the recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which show strong public support for the way in which the police service has responded to the pandemic so far.

“We appreciate that people are getting frustrated but we have to all work together to halt the spread of Covid-19 and protect the NHS.”

National Federation chair John Apter has criticised the Government for announcing the lockdown in a press conference arranged after a document was allegedly leaked to the media suggesting a month-long lockdown was imminent and said it was ‘deeply unhelpful’ and created a ‘media frenzy, concern and speculation’.

He explained: “What is important now is that there are no blurred lines or confusion around rules so that my colleagues can effectively police these restrictions. Policing is already under enough pressure. My colleagues have been doing their best to police restrictions which have changed on a regular basis and have often been confusing.

“It is clear that the virus has not gone away and is spreading at an alarming rate. We must be clear in what we are asking of the public and what we are expecting of the police. The information from Government must be clear and unambiguous. Anything less makes the policing of this pandemic even more challenging than it is already.”