Sheffield MP praises police response to city residents flouting lockdown rules

Former Sheffield councillor Ibrar Hussain had told how residents in Fir Vale and Page Hall ‘fear for their safety’ and claimed current policing measures were ‘not working’ there after he received photos taken by a concerned resident which showed large groups brazenly breaching the rules.

He implored MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, Gill Furniss, to ‘look into’ the issue and called for South Yorkshire Police (SYP) and South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner to ‘act’.

Police in the neighbourhood reacted to the concerns by ‘conducting proactive patrols’ and claimed there had been a ‘steady improvement on compliance’ though there was ‘still progress to be made’.

Ms Furniss has now written to Chief Constable Stephen Watson, of SYP, and the Police and Crime Commissioner, Alan Billings, thanking them for moving ‘quickly’ in response to allegations.

She said: “I am writing to you to raise the issue of policing in my constituency during this extremely difficult time. In particular, as you will know the community of Page Hall is an area with significant challenges of both community cohesion and also of public health and wellbeing.

“You will be aware of significant online and media interest in both issues around social distancing in Page Hall and other potential criminal behaviour. I would like to thank local policing teams for responding quickly to these issues over the last few days.

“An increased presence, where resource allows, will help to reassure the community that their safety and wellbeing is being prioritised during the current crisis.

“I hope that the police, working in coordination with Sheffield City Council will be able to keep working within the Page Hall area to ensure that everyone in the community understands the rules that are in place and people can keep as healthy as possible.”

The Sheffield North East neighbourhood policing team arrested and charged a man with public order offences ‘having threatened’ a PCSO carrying out coronavirus enforcement patrol.

On Sunday, a university student from the Roma community joined the team on patrols to help them press home the seriousness of coronavirus.