The police force Avon and Somerset police, which services Bristol and the surrounding areas, has received around 11,000 reports of lockdown breaches since enforcement. The force has attended half of these calls but in 99 per cent of those calls that were attended no fine was given.
The Police and Crime Commissioner for Bristol Sue Mountstevens and chief constable of Avon and Somerset police Andy Marsh have revealed police have, what they described as, “remarkably” attended almost half of the breaches reported to the force since lockdown began last month and that 143 enforcement notices have been issued.
Whilst speaking on a Facebook Live stream on Thursday, April the 16th Chief Constable Marsh said: “There’s a public appetite for this [reporting breaches]. We’ve had about 11,000 reports. Remarkably, we’ve attended 44 per cent of them. We have an application that updates every 60 minutes and tells us where there are breaches. We’re deploying officers and PCSOs proactively to those hotspots to engage, encourage and explain, and on occasion take formal enforcement action against those that will not listen. I interpret that as the public saying we’re complying and we want everyone to comply. We’ve only issued 143 enforcement notices since this started. It’s a tiny proportion. The public are policing themselves, by and large.”
This volume of reporting on others will cause concerns for some in terms of community cohesion and liberty. However, Mr Marsh has said “We would encourage people who have those concerns to contact us. Chief Constable Marsh did also say that “burglaries – unsurprisingly, because people are in – have fallen by 40 per cent, and many other crime types are down by 30 per cent.”
Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
[sibwp_form id=4]
