Government needs to give more guidance as lockdown is eased, says Fed secretary

12 May 2020

Police officers need to know ‘exactly what is expected of them’ as lockdown measures are eased, according to Hertfordshire Police Federation secretary Al Wollaston.

That means clearer guidance is required from the Government to help officers police their communities in an effective manner.

Reacting to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s address to the nation on Sunday evening and comments in Parliament yesterday, Al says they have caused confusion among officers already coming to terms with different approaches to easing the lockdown in England, Scotland and Wales.

“Police officers have been doing an amazing job protecting and educating the public during the COVID-19 outbreak,” says Al. “This has been an unprecedented situation and they have had to learn and adapt on the job.

“As usual, they have put themselves on the front-line in the face of an invisible killer while trying to guard and protect the NHS and the communities they so diligently serve.

“Their next challenge is trying to uphold the new legislation announced by the Government but if they are going to do that successfully, they need clearer guidelines than what they have been getting over the last few days. They need to know exactly what is expected of them”.

The new guidance says people can:

• Exercise outside as many times a day as they want - although a limit on the number of exercise sessions has never been enforced by law in England previously
• Spend time outdoors, other than for exercise, as long as they are not meeting up with more than one person from outside their household while observing social distancing measures by keeping two metres apart, and continuing to wash their hands regularly
• Drive to outdoor open spaces ‘irrespective of distance’ as long as they observe social distancing rules when there, and do not travel over borders to other parts of the UK where rules are different. Previously, the public were urged not to travel long distances to visit beaches, countryside and beauty spots.

No other specific examples of scenarios where members of the public would be considered to be flouting the rules, and therefore liable for fines, were provided.

Under the new guidelines, fines for people flouting the rules will increase to £100 from tomorrow, lowered to £50 if paid within two weeks, and will double for each repeat offence up to a maximum of £3,200.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 will be updated from tomorrow to reflect the changes coming into effect.

John Apter, national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, has called on the Government to provide ‘crystal clear’ guidance for police officers because they will not be walking around ‘with tape measures to check two metres distances’.

Speaking to Sky News yesterday, he said: “Some of the sensational headlines in recent days have caused many of the people who we deal with to believe that the lockdown ended. We hear people say [social distancing] ‘it’s about common sense’ but some of the people we deal with don’t use common sense, so the guidance has got to be crystal clear.”

He also called for clarity around when it would be appropriate for officers to issue fines to those breaching social distancing.

“I can tell you my colleagues will not be issued with tape measures to check two metre distances. It’s about policing by consent and issuing fines is a last resort. I need to understand why we are doing that because when you increase the level of fine, that could cause greater conflict with the people you’re dealing with,” John added.

Read the Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy.