Police have been criticised over their handling of new powers to enforce the Covid-19 lockdown.
Lancashire Police issued 123 fines for breaches of the rules over the weekend, while officers in Cheshire summonsed six people for various offences, including multiple people from the same house going out to buy ânon-essentialâ items.
South Wales Police hit out at MP Stephen Kinnock for visiting his father, former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, on his birthday; while Derbyshire dyed the Blue Lagoon in Buxton black to deter groups of people from gathering at the beauty spot.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in the Governmentâs daily press conference that police should use âcommon senseâ in applying the rules, but also that the public should âfollow the guidance, not just to the letter but also to the spiritâ.
Former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation Lord Anderson told the PA news agency: âPolice in their words and actions need to be clear about the difference between rules and guidance, both to maintain public confidence in their role and to discourage snoopers, snitches and vigilantes.
âSerious breaches should attract fines, but news reports of over-enforcement by police and public are deterring the timid from exercising even the limited freedoms they have.â
The move by Cheshire to curtail âmultiple people from the same household going to the shops for non-essential itemsâ appears to be a misinterpretation of the law.
The lawyer who tweets as The Secret Barrister said: âThere is nothing in the legislation that prohibits multiple people from the same household going to the shops. Nor is there a bar on going out to buy ânon-essential itemsâ.
âSuch things may not be desirable, but they are not crimes. This does the police no credit.â
Jules Carey from Bindmans said the police need to make a âcultural shiftâ in using the new powers to protect public health rather than prevent disorder.
He told PA: âWe are not taking about a public order emergency, we are talking about a public health crisis and these laws have been enacted to help protect society from illness.
âThe credibility of officers and forces will quickly be called into question if they fail to understand what is required of them.
âWhat is required of them is the necessary and proportionate enforcement of the restrictions put in place to protect society; what they must avoid is overlaying the current health crisis with an atmosphere of tyranny and a sense of dystopia by setting up roadblocks, flying drones and overzealous policing on the ground.â
Britainâs most senior police officer, Dame Cressida Dick, has told her force only to use the new powers, which allow them to fine or arrest those who break lockdown laws, as a last resort.
She told LBC: âWe are all getting used to the new restrictions and Iâve been very clear that in the first instance I want my officers to be engaging with people, talking to people, encouraging them to comply.
âExplaining, of course, if they donât understand â already we have had examples of people who simply hadnât quite heard all the messages â and, only as a very last resort with the current restrictions, using firm direction or even enforcement.â
Guidance has been issued to the 43 police forces in England and Wales by the National Police Chiefsâ Council, but it has not yet been made public.
Gracie Bradley from the human rights charity Liberty said the goodwill of the public would be âundermined by harsh and heavy handed policingâ.
She said: âDespite the broad scope of these powers, weâve seen various incidents of police going even further â and beyond their lawful remit.
âThis makes it impossible for people to know how to comply with these new rules, and challenge police when they overreach.â
Former High Court judge Lord Sumption criticised Derbyshire Police for having âshamed our policing traditionsâ.
Before the full lockdown, the force shared pictures on social media of queues of cars visiting the Peak District.
Lord Sumption told Radio Fourâs World At One: âIn some parts of the country the police have been trying to stop people from doing things like travelling to take exercise in the open country which are not contrary to the regulations simply because ministers have said that they would prefer us not to.
âThe police have no power to enforce ministersâ preferences but only legal regulations which donât go anything like as far as the Governmentâs guidance.
âI have to say that the behaviour of Derbyshire Police in trying to shame people in using their undoubted right to travel to take exercise in the country and wrecking beauty spots in the fells so people donât want to go there is frankly disgraceful.â
He added: âDerbyshire Police have shamed our policing traditions.â
The forceâs Chief Constable Peter Goodman said the force took drone footage of Curbar Edge due to an âunprecedentedâ number of visitors.
He said: âThe drone was in the air for a matter of minutes and captured images of individuals who were not identifiable.
âThe primary role of my officers is the preservation of life. In placing a short 90-second clip on the forceâs social media accounts it reached an audience far wider than our self-same messages that had gone completely unreported by national media until that point.
âThis weekend we saw a considerable reduction in numbers to the Peak District and I would like to send my thanks to everyone who thought twice about putting themselves, local residents and emergency services at risk as a result of making an unnecessary trip.â
Water in the Blue Lagoon has a similar pH to bleach and is harmful to swim in, he said, and dyeing the water has gone on for seven years.
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