Police: Don’t expect us to act as ‘store detectives’ on face masks

POLICE have warned officers can’t be expected to act as ‘store detectives’ when face masks become mandatory in shops next Friday.

Nicola Sturgeon this week announced that shoppers will face fines of £60 for refusing to comply, as she aims to drive down Covid-19 cases.

But concerns have been raised over how the new rule will be enforced. Calum Steele, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said it was ‘simply impractical to expect police officers to be redeployed as pseudo store detectives across the thousands of retail outlets’.

Face coverings will become mandatory in shops for all over the age of five from July 10. They are already compulsory on public transport.

Dr Nick McKerrell, a senior law lecturer

Deputy Scottish Political Editor from Glasgow Caledonian University, said the prospect of fines should encourage more people to wear them.

He told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland radio programme: ‘People will act in a way when they know there’s a legal enforcement behind it, even if the policing of it is difficult. Behavioural science tells us that if you say this is mandatory, people are more likely to do it.’

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said police enforcement was seen as a ‘last resort’. He added: ‘We’re really looking at people complying for their own health and the good health of the nation.’

Concerns about enforcement have also been raised by the retail sector. Dr John

Lee from the Scottish Grocers Federation (SGF) said: ‘The reality is that staff are on the front line with this. They will have to make the initial challenge to any customers who, for whatever reason, want to remove a mask or don’t want to wear one at all.

‘We know how stretched the police are; they won’t be able to give such incidents priority.’

SGF chief executive Dr Pete Cheema said the Scottish Government should have continued with a voluntary approach to face covering. He added: ‘Staff are already under tremendous pressure and this will only add to this in terms of enforcing these measures in-store and with age verification. Face coverings will further exacerbate retail crime.

‘Convenience stores have already implemented social distancing measures very effectively and there is no evidence to show that stores are hotspots for Covid transmission.’

The Scottish Government hopes the move will help to eliminate the virus north of the Border, where the number thought to be infectious fell to 1,500 at the end of June.