Vast majority doing right thing
Penalties for those not sticking to the rules are the right thing to do, says Alison Hernandez
AS I write this, the Health Secretary Matt Hancock is announcing the latest changes to regulations about travel and meeting up under the coronavirus tier system that is keeping so many safe.
It is likely that by the time you read this column, these rules will have changed again, and in the coming weeks more restrictions will have been placed on our liberty, threatening our economy and meaning we will have to wait longer before we can get back to enjoying the freedoms we have been fortunate to have taken for granted for so many decades.
For those who lived through 2020 and the early part of 2021, a trip to see a friend, a pint at a local pub, or a scoot around the local shops – once routine activities – will never be under appreciated again.
It has been a hard few months, especially for those already faced with illness, whether mental of physical, those who might live alone but who enjoy the company of others, those who have been affected by crime and those who have lost a loved one, whether through Covid19 or by another means.
The temptation over the Christmas and New Year period to break or bend the rules has, for some, been too much to resist. Covid cars, addi
The temptation over the Christmas period to break or bend the rules has, for some, been too much to resist
tional response vehicles staffed by regular officers and volunteer Special Constables (who for the first time have received a payment of £750 if they committed to extra shifts during the winter period) have been speaking to many people drawn to the Westcountry over the past few days.
Fixed Penalty Notices will be doled out to individuals, while businesses that flout the law have been hit by more significant penalties, one North Devon pub is facing a £4,000 fine after police found inadequate checks on customers were being carried out and people from several different households were mingling.
By Christmas Eve more than 68,000 people had died in the UK within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test and here in Devon and Cornwall the infection rate was doubling every 11 days. The police and partners have done an amazing job in difficult circumstances throughout 2020 and for the most part used the community policing skills that they pride themselves on here in Devon and Cornwall, choosing to educate and explain to the public before resorting to enforcement powers.
However, when left with no option but to enforce I support these actions purely because for the most part, especially here in Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, the vast majority of people are doing the right thing. They have made personal sacrifices and missed business opportunities because they understand that this is not a multi-national Governmental exercise in mind control, as some would have us believe, but a health emergency with real implications for real people.
With the backdrop of deaths it is highly irresponsible to break or bend the rules. To profit from doing so, while other traders suffer, is indefensible.
It is unsurprising, given the year that we’ve just had, that the newspapers and bulletins are so full of doom and gloom, but if we’re not at the end of the pandemic we are, at least at the beginning of the end. We should be rightfully proud that Britain was the first country in the world to approve vaccinations and for coming up with what looks to be a virus-beating vaccination, proud of our NHS for organising the largest vaccination programme in its history on one hand and battling the virus on the other, and proud of our police and partners for keeping us safe.
We are now a week past the darkest day of 2020. With every passing day the New Year nears, as does the opening of the vaccination centres that will ultimately put an end to this pandemic and give us our freedom again. It is now incumbent on all of us to work a little longer to ensure that the losses heaped upon families and our economy are held to an absolute minimum.
The next few weeks will likely be as hard as any of the previous 52, but now the end is in sight.
Alison Hernandez is Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall.