To police the self-isolation rules, you first need to understand them, officer!

WELL, it happened.The Husband and I were stopped by the police when we went out for our daily dog walk with Murphy last Friday.

There’s a beach about two miles from us.To get to it you have to turn off the main road and drive down a winding track which for the past two weeks has been almost entirely deserted save for the cows in nearby fields.

It was a beautiful afternoon and there was nothing and no one around save for the big police car that followed us down the deserted road.We knew why – so when we’d parked up we got out and waited.

There were two officers, one male, one female, who was already checking our car as her partner came to talk to us.

“Can we help you?” asked The Husband. As he was talking, I got my phone out and told the officer I was going to record our exchange, which he said was fine as he’d record it too. I was happy with that as I knew we weren’t breaking any restrictions. But I did ask why he’d followed us and what HE thought we were doing wrong because, as I said, there’s nothing in the restrictions that stops us from getting in our car and coming out (locally) to do our daily exercise.

They asked us why we were there, which was pretty obvious with Murphy champing at the bit. But we explained politely that we lived locally and came here most days because there was never anyone on the beach at this time of day.

The male officer asked why we hadn’t stayed at home to do our exercise. I told him there was nothing in the rules that said we had to. And nothing that prevented us from getting into the car and coming to a deserted beach.At this point I asked him if HE knew and understood the rules. He said he did. So again, I asked why they’d come after us.And then came the stinger: “Because we’re asking you to follow the spirit of the rules.”

And there it was.The police admitting THEY are interpreting the rules how THEY see fit.And that is why people all over the country are getting angry. I pointed out there was no “spirit” to the rules.There were just the rules.And we weren’t breaking any of them.We then noticed they’d stuck a notice on our car window: “Driving to this location is not in the spirit of government restrictions.

You are being asked to stay home and carry out your daily exercise from your home.”

No, officers, the Government is absolutely NOT asking us to do that.That is a wilful misinterpretation of the restrictions.

The only people we came into contact with that day were those two coppers who, unlike us,ARE mixing with vast numbers of the public, who may well be infected.Yet they were handing out leaflets – without wearing gloves.

I’m not saying these guys were aggressive. They weren’t. They were polite. But instead of following two middle-aged people on a solitary walk, why aren’t they in the towns and cities where there have been numerous reports of big groups ignoring the guidelines? They’re the ones they need to chase. Not us. We’ve all read stories of police trying to stop people doing what the regulations say they are legally entitled to do which I’d say is definitely NOT in the spirit of the rules.

Some stopped supermarket workers going to their shift because they didn’t believe them. Others put up roadblocks to ask people if their journeys were justified.

Save for a very few exceptions the public is committed to helping the police fight this pandemic. But if they want our cooperation they must stop treating us like criminals.

In our case the officers backed off and said they were only giving advice.We thanked them for their “advice” and then went for our walk.

But later, I looked at their notice after I’d sprayed it with anti-bac. It said: “There are rules in place to reduce the spread of the virus.And we all have our part to play.”

Yes, we do and most of us appreciate that. So, overzealous coppers need to lay off those of us who ARE sticking by the rules and turn their attention to those who aren’t.Anything else edges us ever closer to a police state.

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