Category Archives: Diary

POLICING With no parliamentary scrutiny, the government has changed existing lockdown regulations to create a new offence of “being outside” your home, as well as leaving it, without a reasonable excuse – even if you had a perfectly good reason to go out in the first place. The amended regulations are available here and an explanatoryContinue reading “23 April Update”

POLICING Like Sussex Police, Dorset Police is still advising people to avoid driving for their daily exercise if possible, even though last week the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the professional standards body the College of Policing published a document that categorically stated it is “lawful to drive for exercise”. Apparently, Dorset Police haveContinue reading “21 – 22 April Update”

POLICING Chief Superintendent Paul Griffiths president of the Police Superintendents’ Association warned today that police must prepare for a “more volatile and agitated society” after the end of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown. Perhaps appropriately, therefore, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) of the House of Commons and the House of Lords met to examineContinue reading “20 April Update”

POLICING There was widespread national media coverage of a video shared on Twitter showing a Lancashire Police officer threatening to fabricate a charge to detain a young man up, saying “I’ll lock you up… We’ll make something up… who are they going to believe, me or you?” in what Netpol called an unusual moment ofContinue reading “18 – 19 April Update”

The Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons has said the police must stop overstepping their powers under new coronavirus laws in order to maintain public trust. MPs have identified errors “through social media and press reporting”, and called for forces to “ensure that there are proper checks in place”. It adds: It isContinue reading “17 April Update”

POLICING The BBC’s Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw has reported on revisions to guidelines for officers from the National Police Chiefs Council and the College of Policing that seem even more complex than before. Officers in England are told they can stop people working in parks or sitting on a park bench for a longContinue reading “16 April Update”

POLICING Coastal police forces are using number plate tracking technology to identify and fine “holidaymakers” who have driven to their areas. Sussex Police issued more than 100 fixed penalty notices to people from outside the county and more than 50 fixed penalty notices to day-trippers in Brighton living outside Sussex. An Aberdeen surfer was finedContinue reading “14-15 April Update”

POLICING The predictions last week by senior police officers that more and more people would flout the rules over the Easter bank holiday weekend – and that they might require tough coronavirus lockdown restrictions – proved unfounded. By and large, people have listened to reminders to stay home and practice physical distancing when they needContinue reading “11-13 April Easter Weekend Update”

POLICING On the eve of the four day bank holiday weekend, a police officer in South Yorkshire was captured on video telling a family to leave the front lawn of their house in Ferham, Rotherham. The force subsequently tweeted this was “was well-intentioned but ill-informed and we’d like to apologise for the way it wasContinue reading “10 April Update”

POLICING With the Easter weekend approaching, there were renewed reports that senior police officers were lobbying the government to consider toughening coronavirus lockdown restrictions. The Guardian reported that these may include “stringent restrictions to prevent people [from] driving long distances” and tougher enforcement to limit exercise to once a day. One police chief is quotedContinue reading “9 April Update”