Issued COVID FPN by a police officer

[Nibbles_bits]

Anyway.......

This has got a little of track.

As I said in my first post, most Officers don't want to be issuing FPNs or dealing with Coronavirus Act breaches.

But there's always one Officer that will issue a ticket to someone just for farting.

[Lonely]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Anecdote?

Does the rest of your post suggest what most people think - it's a class thing?

[paintman]

All to do with putting the cream on first.

[XCP]

I think this has always been the case, it's just more of a political football now in relation to Covid, hence this thread.
99.999 per cent of officers have zero interest in FPNs for Covid matters in my estimation.

[Greendubber]

XCP said:

I think this has always been the case, it's just more of a political football now in relation to Covid, hence this thread.
99.999 per cent of officers have zero interest in FPNs for Covid matters in my estimation.

Yep.

[survivalist]

croyde said:

If the officer was so proud of ticketing a women who hadn't left the house in 6 weeks, it sounds like she's a bully and a .

OP, I take it you were in that Ghost Town formerly called central London.

I'm about 8 miles from central, I quite fancied a hike around there but it seems it's not a good idea.

I'll keep going to where the police don't like getting their shiny boots all muddy.

Central London is fine, if a little ghost-town like. Police don’t seem to bat an eyelid. If you like cycling and or seeing the sights in calm environment now is the time.

[48k]

Nibbles_bits said:

Anyway.......

This has got a little of track.

As I said in my first post, most Officers don't want to be issuing FPNs or dealing with Coronavirus Act breaches.

But there's always one Officer that will issue a ticket to someone just for farting.

The OP was ticketed by an officer from a "dedicated COVID task force" - and "the officer said to me, charmingly, that she had earlier given a ticket to a lady who had not left her house for 6 weeks, and had travelled to Trafalger Square to walk around and take photos" which strikes me that the issuing of tickets is the key metric. A bit like when a road block is set up for VED and insurance checks. If such a task force returns to base at the end of shift having issued no tickets, is that perceived by bosses as success or failure? Do the first three E's get skipped in order to issue a ticket so that suitable KPIs can be reported "we stopped X people and Y were issued a FPN for contravention of the rules". ?

[survivalist]

48k said:

The OP was ticketed by an officer from a "dedicated COVID task force" - and "the officer said to me, charmingly, that she had earlier given a ticket to a lady who had not left her house for 6 weeks, and had travelled to Trafalger Square to walk around and take photos" which strikes me that the issuing of tickets is the key metric. A bit like when a road block is set up for VED and insurance checks. If such a task force returns to base at the end of shift having issued no tickets, is that perceived by bosses as success or failure? Do the first three E's get skipped in order to issue a ticket so that suitable KPIs can be reported "we stopped X people and Y were issued a FPN for contravention of the rules". ?

Sounds more like a civil enforcement officer than an actual police officer - think repurposed parking wardens. Back in November I did have someone with a council badge ask me if I would mind telling them why I was parking in town. When I replied that I did mind, they stuttered for a bit and then said something about being mindful about a pandemic ‘being on’ didn’t hear the rest as I was walking off at the time.

Sounds like the lady in question should have just stated that she was taking her daily exercise.

[XCP]

first three E's?

Apologies but the jargon lost me.

[Bigends]

XCP said:

first three E's?

Apologies but the jargon lost me.

Engage, explain then encourage compliance before enforcing the laws

.Policy in some areas is to ignore the first three then jump straight to enforcement ' Well this has been in for a year now - you should know better!!'

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

I've read this + key word searched for exercise in the legislation and I'm still none the wiser.

Is it legal to drive to exercise if you stay local - yes or no.

I was threatened with an FPN for driving 4.5 miles to go mountain biking in my local woods. I'd assumed it was a reasonable reason - NY police disagreed, but agreed it was local.

There's no way I want to cycle there on the roads as I've been knocked off once and had god knows how many punishment passes.

[survivalist]

Lonely said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Anecdote?

Does the rest of your post suggest what most people think - it's a class thing?

There are bigger things to worry about in Devon. Inbreeding will kill people off before covid gets a look in.

[blueg33]

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:

I've read this + key word searched for exercise in the legislation and I'm still none the wiser.

Is it legal to drive to exercise if you stay local - yes or no.

I was threatened with an FPN for driving 4.5 miles to go mountain biking in my local woods. I'd assumed it was a reasonable reason - NY police disagreed, but agreed it was local.

There's no way I want to cycle there on the roads as I've been knocked off once and had god knows how many punishment passes.

Local is not in the regulations.

[survivalist]

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:

I've read this + key word searched for exercise in the legislation and I'm still none the wiser.

Is it legal to drive to exercise if you stay local - yes or no.

I was threatened with an FPN for driving 4.5 miles to go mountain biking in my local woods. I'd assumed it was a reasonable reason - NY police disagreed, but agreed it was local.

There's no way I want to cycle there on the roads as I've been knocked off once and had god knows how many punishment passes.

There is no distance stipulated. If stopped again I’d just state that you will be contesting any FPN.

Don’t know about Yorkshire, but I Hertfordshire we had a nice sunny winters day here. Noticed picnics in the park, people sitting on benches having coffee and lunch. Police around but not preventing any of it. Seems like people have unlocked instead of waiting for some arbitrary date. Was nice to see.

[Nibbles_bits]

48k said:

The OP was ticketed by an officer from a "dedicated COVID task force" - and "the officer said to me, charmingly, that she had earlier given a ticket to a lady who had not left her house for 6 weeks, and had travelled to Trafalger Square to walk around and take photos" which strikes me that the issuing of tickets is the key metric. A bit like when a road block is set up for VED and insurance checks. If such a task force returns to base at the end of shift having issued no tickets, is that perceived by bosses as success or failure? Do the first three E's get skipped in order to issue a ticket so that suitable KPIs can be reported "we stopped X people and Y were issued a FPN for contravention of the rules". ?

Sounds to me that the Officer sayings he ticketed a lady that had not left her house for 6 weeks a) didn't happen or b) wasn't a Police Officer.

I've been placed on a 'Dedicated Covid Task Force' on approximate 5/6 occasions..........no one in the team issued an FPN.

That team being 8 Officers in a van, telling people not to gather in groups of 4 - oh the irony.

[survivalist]

Nibbles_bits said:

48k said:

The OP was ticketed by an officer from a "dedicated COVID task force" - and "the officer said to me, charmingly, that she had earlier given a ticket to a lady who had not left her house for 6 weeks, and had travelled to Trafalger Square to walk around and take photos" which strikes me that the issuing of tickets is the key metric. A bit like when a road block is set up for VED and insurance checks. If such a task force returns to base at the end of shift having issued no tickets, is that perceived by bosses as success or failure? Do the first three E's get skipped in order to issue a ticket so that suitable KPIs can be reported "we stopped X people and Y were issued a FPN for contravention of the rules". ?

Sounds to me that the Officer sayings he ticketed a lady that had not left her house for 6 weeks a) didn't happen or b) wasn't a Police Officer.

I've been placed on a 'Dedicated Covid Task Force' on approximate 5/6 occasions..........no one in the team issued an FPN.

That team being 8 Officers in a van, telling people not to gather in groups of 4 - oh the irony.

Is this really what the police are being asked to do? A ‘dedicated covid task force’? Jesus wept.

[Chicken Chaser]

blueg33 said:

Local is not in the regulations.

Any mention of distance is absent. The legislation doesn't even mention reasonable distance.

[anonymous-user]

survivalist said:

Is this really what the police are being asked to do? A ‘dedicated covid task force’? Jesus wept.

Why wouldn’t there be? Enforcement is one part of the strategy to enable us to return to normality and limit the economic damage and of course deaths.

In terms of practical resourcing, it makes sense to have a dedicated group at any one time due to the demand that will be coming in and that the ones most likely to see enforcement are people having parties / groups. More likely for enforcement = more likely conflict so having the numbers there from the off is better than displacing other resources who are dealing with other demand.

[Cold]

Would it make sense for those about to be deployed as a "dedicated covid taskforce" to be briefed on what the salient points of the regulations actually are?

[Pegscratch]

Cold said:

Would it make sense for those about to be deployed as a "dedicated covid taskforce" to be briefed on what the salient points of the regulations actually are?

No as apparently they’re too short staffed/too underfunded/too underpaid/picked on by the Tories too much to sit down and take five minutes to have a read through the pertinent points of the regulations.