Police ask: Why enforce lockdown at this late stage?
As crowds enjoy the sun, forces say unvaccinated officers are at risk and threaten 2m distancing
POLICE no longer wish to enforce Covid-19 rules to break up groups gathering outdoors in the month before the law is scrapped, rank and file officers said last night.
Huge crowds took advantage of unseasonably warm weather to meet in large numbers this weekend in parks and on beaches but anecdotal evidence suggested only some police forces were still trying to enforce the existing rules.
The relaxation of Covid-19 regulations only begins next Monday when for the first time since the lockdown started two people can meet in an “outdoor public space” for recreational purposes that includes a coffee, drink or picnic. Only by March 29 will six people – or two households – be allowed to meet outdoors, including in back gardens.
Last night Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police federation, representing rank and file officers in the UK’S biggest force, said his members had no desire to carry out the law to the letter. “Police don’t want to police this,” he said, “We have had enough of this. It is not policeable. It is not manageable.”
The Police Federation is demanding frontline officers receive vaccinations as a priority, faced with the prospect of having to break up increasingly rowdy crowds as the nation moves towards the ending of restrictions by June.
The Government said last week that it would still continue to vaccinate according to age groups, even once all over-50s had received their jabs. Mr Marsh said legal advice was being sought on whether officers could refuse to break the two-metre social distancing rule unless they are vaccinated. Such a move would prevent uncooperative suspects from being arrested because police would refuse to go closer than two metres.
Mr Marsh said: “We have to break Covid legislation every day of the week. What if I turn round and say to my 32,000 members: ‘Adhere totally to Covid legislation’.? That is not what we want but if we have to … to protect my colleagues I will do that. Ministers are just not listening. It is not right police are having to police huge crowds without the jab. Our vulnerability is massive.
“We don’t have the right to strike... But we are considering sticking to the two-metre rule. We are taking legal advice on it.”
Mr Marsh added: “How do you arrest somebody who doesn’t want to be arrested [if you have to stay two metres away]?”
Public spaces like Primrose Hill in central London were so busy at the weekend, onlookers suggested they were like crowd scenes at Glastonbury. There was little evidence of police being interested in breaking up picnickers and drinkers despite current rules that only allow physical exercise.
In Newcastle, crowds – described as “hordes of locals” – flocked to the Quayside area. Police officers were seen patrolling the packed beach at Brighton on the Sussex coast, speaking to groups sitting on the beach but not apparently enforcing the rules. In Scarborough, North Yorkshire, officers also spoke to youths sitting drinking on benches. In Wales, police stopped traffic on the road to the seaside resort of Barry Island to inquire if journeys were essential.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the force remained committed to upholding the law but said there had to be a “degree of realism”, and fines would only be issued in the most serious flouting of regulations such as large-scale, indoor, illegal parties.
‘Police don’t want to police this. We have had enough of this. It is not policeable. It is not manageable’