COVID-19 legislation may have brought added powers of enforcement to the police, but the pandemic has also brought them a few headaches because of frequent rule changes.
Teesdale’s police inspector says the public will have also found it hard to follow all the changes – and that’s why officers are keen to educate people in the first instance if possible.
Insp Ed Turner, of Barnard Castle Police, said: “Covid-19 has been difficult for everyone. It has been difficult for the police to understand the tweaks to legislation – more than 100 have been put through parliament since it started.
“It has been a real battle for us to keep on top of the changes, but this will be more so for the public.
“We have been continuing to use the four E approach to the Covid-19 powers – engage, explain, encourage and enforce. But where there are repeated, blatant breaches we will use our enforcement powers.”
The Covid-19 restrictions have had a positive effect on policing other crimes.
He added: “Covid has had a significant impact on other crime. People who shouldn’t be in the area doing things they shouldn’t do, lockdown has allowed us to deal with them.
“We have seen a drop off with other things because of the lockdowns as people are staying at home.”
Ten months into the pandemic, frequent modifications to the rules have caused some confusion and can cause angry reactions to perceptions of alleged breaches.
Insp Turner said: “We have seen quite extreme reactions on how we should be enforcing things.
“We have seen it when there are breaches of people using a second home.
“I would encourage people to ring the police about quite blatant breaches, but it has to be done responsibly.
“We don’t want to create ill feeling in communities because the onus has to be down to personal responsibility.
“The majority of people who want to come to Teesdale are adhering to the rules and we welcome them to come outside of Covid. But overall we have to tread very carefully.”
