‘Clarify exercise rules’
POLICE REPS SAY GUIDANCE INCREDIBLY VAGUE
POLICE representatives have called for the clarification of “woolly” coronavirus lockdown rules on the distance people are allowed to travel for exercise.
Government guidance currently instructs the public to only exercise in their local area, but there is no distance set by law.
Confusion over the issue was highlighted last week by the case of Jessica Allen, from Ashby, who was fined £200 by police for taking a socially-distanced walk with friend Eliza Moore at Foremark Reservoir, five miles away, on January 6.
The fines issued to the pair by the Derbyshire force have since been rescinded.
Adam Commons, chairman of Leicestershire Police Federation, said: “We can’t have 43 police forces interpreting it a different way. You will gradually see a trickle of people in the media who will say ‘hang on a minute, in Northamptonshire they do this but in Manchester they do this.’
“We’ve got some of the MPs coming out saying ‘it makes sense to us.’ Well, for enforcement purposes, it doesn’t make sense to us.
“That’s the problem. We are the people who are out there trying to deal with it and we can’t in its current format.
“This just puts the pressure back on my colleagues who then get the criticism in the media for enforcing it. Then, if it’s wrong or interpreted differently, it is used as a stick to beat them with.
“They’re just trying to interpret something that’s incredibly vague and needs amending.”
West Yorkshire Police Federation chairman Brian Booth agreed the rules were impossible to interpret.
“The guidance is that you should be in your own community, near where you live, but people are far exceeding that,” he said.
“Officers have no power in law to deal with it, so it is a bit of a nonsense really.
“The guidance is people’s moral judgement - should they be doing it - but with regard to policing it, it’s impossible.”
Asked if the government should bring in a legal definition of what constitutes local, Mr Booth said: “If you want a more hardline enforcement approach, then that is what you’ve got to do.
“You can’t just leave it woolly like you’ve done and expect officers to work miracles. It’s just setting the officer up for a fall.
“If you say to people you are going to limit their civil liberties, and you are going to place them in lockdown, state it very clearly. Because it’s not fair on the public either.”
The National Police Chiefs Council has said while the location of exercise is guidance and not law, “police officers will be inquisitive about why people are out and will explain the regulations and encourage people to comply.
“Where people are away from home without reasonable excuse, they may be issued with a penalty.”