Category Archives: Diary

POLICING As the Home Office starts to share the government’s new messages, the College of Policing has issued new guidance [PDF] for officers on the latest changes to the lockdown regulations starting today in England (similar guidance for Wales [PDF] was issued on Monday). The guidelines urge officers to only enforce what is written inContinue reading “13-14 May Update”

POLICING One of the criticisms of the police over the last six weeks of the lockdown has been that, instead of implementing the law, they have interpreted public health regulations in the way they thought the government wanted them to. This often involved more apparent concern for public order rather than public health, resulting inContinue reading “11-12 May Update”

POLICING There was widespread circulation and comment on video footage of residents in one street in Grappenhall, a village in Warrington, performing a ‘socially distanced conga’ to celebrate the 75th-anniversary of VE Day. The BBC reported on the street party, adding to confusion over what is permitted under the existing health regulations. Significantly, however, theContinue reading “8 – 10 May Update”

POLICING Friday is a bank holiday to mark VE Day but street parties have obviously been cancelled. The police are warning people to make sure that whatever alternative lockdown celebrations are planned, social distancing rules are maintained. Meanwhile, some forces (notably Dorset and North Yorkshire) are also reiterating the message that their counties are closedContinue reading “7 May Update”

POLICING There is another bank holiday weekend approaching and police in Wales and North Yorkshire are gearing up for further action to restrict movements. The Guardian has reported claims that the lockdown in the Lake District is ‘fraying at the edges’. Lancashire Police have cancelled coronavirus fines handed to Shazia Zahieer and Tayyba Arif aContinue reading “5-6 May Update”

POLICING The Times has reported that senior police officers have warned the government that relaxing restrictions as Britain emerges from lockdown will make them “impossible to police” and requiring officers to carry out further enforcement that risks damaging their relationship with the public. This follows rumours that the government plans to increase the current levelContinue reading “4 May Update”

POLICING Netpol has launched a campaign calling on the National Police Chiefs Council to end to the labelling of campaigners as “domestic extremists” before the current lockdown is over. In an open letter that is gathering signatories, the organisation says that “when we finally emerge from lockdown, it is inevitable campaigners will demand real changesContinue reading “2 – 3 May Update”

Policing Checking people’s reasons for being on the streets, South Yorkshire Police went as far as warning people for “saunter in jeans as exercise“, a “visit the shop for egg custard” and a “trip to the cash machine for 20,- to use in the morning”. The online backlash this caused forced the police to apologiseContinue reading “30 April – 1 May Update”

POLICING Campaigners from Big Brother Watch have published its first monthly “Emergency Powers & Civil Liberties” review [PDF], which is aimed at members of Parliament. The 91-page report reveals what it calls “staggering incompetence in police use of emergency laws – including wrongful convictions” and “a postcode lottery of pandemic policing that’s inconsistent and oftenContinue reading “27 – 29 April Update”

POLICING Over the weekend, there were the now-familiar stories about senior police officers urging people to stay home and as many reported incidents of atrocious driving on Britain’s roads as there were about fines for lockdown infringements. In Widnes in Cheshire, police using closure order powers at a home where there had been repeated warnings about breaches of lockdown regulations andContinue reading “24-26 April Update”