Police to use persuasion rather than punishment

Public urged to help, as Met chief says officers will avoid a hardline approach

POLICE officers are to “persuade, cajole, negotiate and advise” the public to follow lockdown restrictions, as force leaders said they did not want to be compelled to take more draconian measures common abroad.

Hundreds of thousands of people continued to travel to work yesterday with the blessing of the Government, as Downing Street said that construction work could carry on despite the restrictions on movement announced by the Prime Minister on Monday.

This provoked a row with Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, who said that more workers should be staying at home and insisted that the Tube – which was crowded during rush hour – could not run more services.

From tomorrow, new laws will give police the power to fine those caught outside their homes in groups of more than two. Guidance issued before the legislation takes effect is expected to urge officers to “persuade, cajole, negotiate and advise” people to disperse before they issue the £30 penalty notices.

The emergency legislation allows for unlimited fines to be imposed by magistrates’ courts if people break the Government’s rules on public gatherings,

The Daily Telegraph understands. Dame Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said once the new legislation was in place, “my view is that my officers will just carry on talking to people and advising people”. She added: “The vast majority of people… want to keep their society safe.”

Writing in today’s Daily Telegraph,

John Apter, the chairman of the Police Federation, says that this strategy can work with the support of the public. However, he adds that if it fails, there would be no option but for the Government to give police European-style powers to stop people leaving their homes without permission or a legitimate reason, despite these measures not being wanted by the public, police or government. “People are describing these measures as a lockdown. They are not, they are heavy restrictions. A lockdown means you don’t leave your house without authority, roadblocks, etcetera” he said. “That’s why the public must adhere to these instructions. If not, the Government will have to take it to a next level, which nobody wants.”

Police Scotland’s chief constable has warned that his officers will not hesitate to use the new powers to enforce the coronavirus lockdown.

“When the powers are enacted, we will have no hesitation in using those powers if people continue to defy what is very, very clear advice,” Chief Constable Iain Livingstone told BBC Good

Morning Scotland. Downing Street confirmed that anyone who failed to pay a fine “could be subject to criminal proceedings and a criminal conviction”. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “If further steps are recommended in order to further contain the spread of this virus then we are not going to rule anything out.”

It came as:

♦matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, called for 250,000 volunteers to help the NHS with tasks including delivering medicines to the most vulnerable;

♦the coronavirus death toll jumped by 87, its biggest daily rise, to 422, with 8,077 cases. Almost a quarter of the latest deaths – 21 – were at a single NHS trust in London;

♦tokyo announced it would be postponing the 2020 Olympics for a year;

Under the legislation giving police powers to fine groups being introduced in Parliament today, people who flout the new rules will get a criminal record and those who fail to pay the £30 fine can be prosecuted in court. Anyone who refuses to give their details could be arrested. In anticipation of the new law, police started dispersing gatherings yesterday in London, Manchester and West Midlands. Officers in Coventry had to break up a barbecue where more than 20 people were enjoying the sunshine, and police then posted pictures of the cleared front yard on Twitter.

Amid concern the Prime Minister’s instructions were being ignored, Mr Hancock reinforced the message yesterday saying “these steps are not requests, they are rules”. Police in Nottinghamshire and Dorset began stopping vehicles to check where occupants were going and advise them on whether they should have been out. Northamptonshire Police said it would be using drones to monitor for public gatherings.

Last night, 500 British Transport Police officers were deployed across the rail network to remind the public of the need to stay at home unless journeys

were essential. Forces also reported being inundated with 999 calls, either from people confused by the rules and asking questions about what movements were permitted or from residents phoning police to alert them to neighbours breaching the gathering rules.

West Midlands Police had to issue a second appeal to the public to stop ringing about staying at home and urge those who wished to report people for gathering in groups to call 101.

Sir Peter Fahy, former Greater Manchester chief constable, warned that police were “already very stretched” with one in 10 officers self-isolating or off sick, and that there was a “huge amount of clarification” needed of the rules if they were to be policed effectively.

He said: “It feels like, in the next few days, we will need an implementation period, but the key thing is that the public accept that this is absolutely vital if lives are to be saved.”

One senior policing figure warned that the new measures could erode the good relationship that existed between officers and the British public.

“One of the big concerns is that the policing by consent model, which defines our system, is going to be severely tested by this.

“In other European countries, the police are an arm of the state, but that is not how things work here,” he said.

“We want to do the right thing, but

‘We estimate we will lose around 30 per cent of officers and staff through illness, self-isolation and looking after others’

our role has to be clear and understood by everyone and at the moment it is not.

“There is also real concern over resources.

“We are significantly stretched at the best of times, but we estimate we will lose around 30 percent of officers and staff through illness, self-isolation and looking after others.”

Martin Hewitt, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said people would initially be asked to disperse and told why but “ultimately, if people refuse to abide by the rules, we will need to enforce them”.

Asked if he would like the measures to go further, Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said it could “absolutely become more draconian towards the public” if advice was ignored.

“Hopefully, from this day, well, if they don’t listen, then there will be tougher measures,” he said.