Police patrols to get tough on Covid-19 rulebreakers
POLICE Community Support Officers will be carrying out highvisibility proactive patrols in Wiltshire to encourage members of the public to comply with the Covid guidance and regulations, and where appropriate take enforcement action.
In response to the latest announcement from the Prime Minister last week, Wiltshire Police have tasked dedicated groups of PCSOs with monitoring behaviour and responding to reports from the public.
This proactive, targeted work, will also be supported by frontline police officers, staff and special constables.
The Wiltshire force yesterday revealed the number of reports it had received of people breaking Covid rules.
Between July 24 and September 27 2020 the force:
Issued two Covid-related fixed penalty notices (FPNs). The first relates to an incident in Swindon where someone was not wearing a face covering inside a petrol station, and the second relates to a house party in Devizes.
Created 557 Covid-related logs, which is where they track telephone and online reports about potential breaches in the regulations.
Of these logs, 19 were calls from businesses or members of the public who wanted help in enforcing the face covering legislation.
As well as a lack of face covering, the public have been reporting people not sticking to the rule of six and lack of social distancing in shops and pubs.
A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: “We saw an increase in reports after the Government introduced the new rule of six and, although every report is logged, it would be impossible for us to attend or investigate every one.
“These are all assessed by our control room and they make a decision on whether deployment is required or if the information should be passed to the local Community Policing Teams. If they relate to businesses, such as restaurants or pubs, these would be passed to the local authority.
“We have focused on engagement in the first instance, explaining the regulations to the public, and have seen good compliance across the county. Where appropriate, officers have warned members of the public and moved to enforcement if necessary.
“This latest move to have dedicated PCSO patrols represents a shift towards a more targeted approach to ensure that the small minority who continuously and deliberately breach the restrictions are dealt with appropriately.”
Assistant Chief Constable Deb Smith said it was clear from our engagement with the communities in Swindon and Wiltshire that, while the vast majority of people were complying with the Covid regulations, more needed to be done to target the small minority who were deliberately and repeatedly flouting the rules.
She said: “From the beginning of the pandemic we have focused on engaging with the public, explaining the situation and encouraging people to adhere to the various rules and regulations.
“For the large part this has worked very well and we have been pleased to see so many people taking them seriously and doing everything they can to keep people safe.
“However, the Prime Minister has made it clear that we all need to be doing more to try to stop the spread of the virus, which is why we have organised these proactive teams of PCSOs to allow us to respond swiftly to concerns from the public and also carry out high-visibility patrols of areas or businesses where we have received information about repeated breaches.
“Up until now we have issued very few FPNs – mainly due to the success of our engagement approach and the high levels of compliance across Wiltshire and Swindon – but we need people to understand the legal require
Although all our frontline
police officers and staff will still respond to Covid breaches as part of their
everyday duties, these PCSOs will be focused on policing the restrictions ANGUS MACPHERSON, PCC
ments which support the guidance and that we will take action against those who deliberately or repeatedly ignore the rules.”
Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson said he wholeheartedly supported the force taking a tougher approach, working alongside partnership agencies, including the two local authorities.
He said: “One of the biggest challenges which has faced police forces is how to enforce the restrictions, while still dealing with the rising everyday demand that policing across the country is having to manage.
“I believe using these dedicated teams of PCSOs is a sensible idea.
“Although all our frontline police officers and staff will still respond to Covid breaches as part of their everyday duties, these PCSOs will be focused on policing the restrictions and will hopefully provide some highvisibility reassurance for our businesses and local communities.”