Police ‘take no satisfaction’ from issuing Covid fines

Police “take no satisfaction” in issuing fines over the coronavirus regulations, a senior police officer has said.
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Police Service of Northern Ireland officers have issued more than 1,000 fines, starting at £200, for breaches of the rules.

They have also issued 49 fines of up to £1,000 for people returning from travel who fail to quarantine – and can issue prohibition notices to businesses.

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The PSNI have faced criticism from some “consistency” in enforcement, but Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd rejected these claims.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd at Musgrave Police Station in BelfastPSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd at Musgrave Police Station in Belfast
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd at Musgrave Police Station in Belfast

The officer, who leads the PSNI’s effort on the pandemic, said enforcement was used where people “blatantly decided to breach the regulations or have done so recklessly or haven’t listened to reason”.

“When you take an approach that is flexible and graduating from explaining and encouragement through to enforcement, the outcome, to a degree, depends on the attitude of the people police are dealing with,” he told the PA news agency.

“So if people take the advice and guidance then there won’t be any need for enforcement.

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“We have been consistent in is our approach and where we have ended up enforcing it is because people have either blatantly decided to breach the regulations or have done so recklessly or haven’t listened to reason.

“You can take individual circumstances and say there were different outcomes therefore there must have been a different policing approach, no, the approach has been consistent, the outcomes may have been different, part and parcel of that is down to the attitude of the individual or individuals that police have found themselves dealing with.”

Mr Todd emphasised that enforcement is a last resort.

“When we publish the number of fines we have issued, we don’t do so with any satisfaction or any measure of success because those will be the people who not only broke the regulations but either did so recklessly or refused to listen to reason and that’s the wider challenge to public safety,” he said.

“More enforcement isn’t more success and more enforcement doesn’t necessarily lead to more adherence but clearly where people are intent on breaching regulations or where people have been reckless in doing so or have refused to listen to reason then they can reasonably expect to receive a penalty.”

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Mr Todd said it has been a challenge to keep up with rapidly changing regulations.

“You have health regulations for public protection, and because they are required to flex and change depending on the state of the pandemic then the regulations flex and change and that support which is coming from policing is asked to flex and change on a constant basis,” he said.

“I think we have been pretty successful in achieving that but it has been a challenge to keep up to speed with constantly changing circumstances, constantly changing regulations and frankly constantly changing public mood around some of the regulations.”

Mr Todd said regulations at times were introduced with a week’s notice.

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“That means you have to be agile and fleet of foot, but the downside of that is some learning has to be done in tandem with the work that you are doing and you sort of need to be walk to walk and think at the same time,” he said.

“That is not normally the way that legislation is passed but it is in these circumstances for very good reason. It has been one of the challenges but I do think we have done our level best to make that a fair application across the communities in Northern Ireland.”

Mr Todd described 2020 as bringing a workload with an “intensity unlike anything else” he had experienced in his career.

“I have had a lot of challenges, I am not unique in that as a chief officer, it is a challenging environment, policing is a challenging job,” he said.

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“But I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the nine months of this year from early March to today have had an intensity, and a pressure and a workload that are unlike anything else I have experienced in my career.”

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