Police in plea to parents
The chief constable of Sussex Police has written to parents after persistent problems with youngsters flouting Covid restrictions.
The chief constable of Sussex Police has written to parents and carers asking: “Do you know where your son or daughter spends their time?”
In her letter, sent to schools for them to send on, Jo Shiner warned that officers were seeing persistent examples of Covid restrictions being flouted and called for the message that the measures were critical to be reinforced.
She said: “Lockdown measures are still in place, many of you are juggling the demands of home schooling, work and all of the other challenges in modern life. None of us know when the lockdown will end.
“We do know that the impact on children and young people is huge, restricting their lives immeasurably, often with hours staring at a screen and little opportunity to exercise, see friends and explore. It is therefore really important that we all reinforce the message that the measures continue to be critical in order to protect friends, family, the NHS and the wider public.”
Mrs Shiner said there was ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ with the vaccination programme, but that ‘lives are still being put at risk by those who are breaching restrictions’.
She added: “Meeting with friends in groups prolongs the lockdown and increases the chance of spreading the virus. Across Sussex we are seeing persistent ‘hot spots’ where children and young people gather – we see parties in homes and groups meeting in skate parks.
“This isn’t exclusive to children and young people but they can be part of the solution in helping us get control of the infection rate, by following the rules.
“We would ask – ‘Do you know where your son or daughter spends their time?’.” Mrs Shiner said officers and PCSOs were patrolling these hot spots and engaging, explaining and encouraging anybody in breach of regulations to adhere to the rules – but she warned that stronger action could be taken if this did not work.
“Where these approaches fail, we will use our policing powers to remove that child or young person and return them home,” she said.
And she added that ‘persistent and blatant rule-breaking’ could lead to parents or carers of under18s hit with fines, which start at £200 for a first offence.
“We understand that the restrictions on families are hugely challenging and are grateful for all that you are doing to reinforce the message with loved ones in order to keep people safe,” she said.
“Together we will recover from this pandemic and the more we adhere to the restrictions, the sooner that will be.”