Plod are going lockdown daft
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CLEARLY there’s been no crime in North Yorkshire over the last week or so.
Nor in Newcastle, Derbyshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, the West Midlands or even parts of London.
Why else would the police in those areas be expending so much time and resources on enforcing the lockdown?
Last week on this page, I highlighted the absurdity in Derbyshire.
Police deployed drones to photograph cars parked in the Peak District while their owners went for a walk.
In Newcastle, a 41-year-old woman was fined £660 after she refused to tell police who she was and what she was doing at the railway station. The charge was quashed within hours – but how did it ever get to court in the first place?
In Edgware, north London, a bakery manager was threatened with a fine of £80 for spraying lines on the pavement to help customers maintain social distancing. We all need to respect the Government guidelines to beat the
REVENGE is a dish best served cold. It must have tasted particularly sweet to Donald Trump when he said the US will not pick up the security bill for the Sussexes.
As Harry and Meghan have had disdain for him, they can’t be surprised. virus – failure to do so will cost more lives. But it’s crucial the public are kept onside. And turning our country into a police state won’t do that.
Former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption fears we could sleepwalk into just that as a result of “collective hysteria”.
And former Labour Home Secretary Lord Blunkett has warned about “officious, heavy-handed policing that... threatens to have a profound effect on this country’s long-standing liberties”. It’s time to take notice. Depressingly, Derbyshire’s Chief Constable Peter Goodman, inset, opted to ignore valid criticism, saying: “We had many, many members of the Derbyshire community contacting the police very concerned because villages that are largely filled by elderly residents, who were self-isolating, were inundated with thousands of visitors.” Nowhere does it justify nor explain why they needed to “send in the drones”.
On my breakfast show last week, Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick got it right when she said: “I want officers to be engaging with people, talking to people, encouraging them to comply.” That is the right approach. If that fails, then you enforce. All we are asking for is a fair cop.
LET’S turn back the clock to January 23, when Health Secretary Matt Hancock made his statement to the House of Commons.
At the time the death toll in China was rising sharply, but no cases had yet been recorded in the UK.
Nevertheless, Mr Hancock assured us we were “wellprepared and well-equipped” to tackle the disease.
Indeed, he proudly declared we had a “world-leading” test for the coronavirus. While I’m delighted he’s now recovered, might I inquire if he was lying or just plain wrong?