Police chief reveals when they have used ‘enforcement action’ in Sheffield over lockdown laws

South Yorkshire’s Chief Constable has spoken out about how his force is enforcing lockdown rules during the coronavirus crisis.
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Chf Con Stephen Watson said the ’vast majority’ of people are abiding by lockdown rules and officers have only had to take ‘formal enforcement action’ in a ‘small number’ of cases.

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He said: “The truth is that things will likely get worse before they get better but it is not true to say that we are helpless in the face of this dreadful virus.

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“If we continue to adhere to those necessary restrictions as announced by HM Government, we can all make a valuable individual contribution to bringing this battle to an end as soon as possible.

“The vast majority of the public are responding magnificently to the restrictions in place because they recognise that their compliance is literally saving lives.”

Chf Con Watson added: “Our approach to upholding the restrictions has been to engage and to educate.

“We may have to take action to enforce compliance but will do so only as a last resort. To date, we have taken formal enforcement action in a small number of cases.

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“Even in these cases, the breach of restrictions have generally been accompanied by other offences, such as drug dealing.”

He continued: “We have experienced some issues in small pockets of our community where language barriers have created something of an obstacle to understanding and compliance. We have now distributed hundreds of translated leaflets and have been well supported by community leaders in sharing the message. As a result, we are seeing compliance improve still further.

“Please be reassured, we are desperate not to use our powers and, contrary to recent reports, we are certainly not using the helicopter to seek out the odd dog walker who might have nipped out more than once on a given day.

“Where the actions of the irresponsible few however risk undermining the stoic efforts of those NHS staff who are working so hard to care for those who have fallen ill, we won’t hesitate to act in accordance with the legislation.

“We are all in this together and so I urge everyone to stick with it so that we can win together.”