400 fines handed out to 'selfish' people in South Yorkshire

Chief Constable Stephen Watson told members of the South Yorkshire Police & Crime Commissioner Public Accountability Board that the force ‘had the right balance’ between enforcement and engagement when coming across people who were not abiding by social distancing.

The chief said the public had no complaints from the enforcement action they had taken during the Covid-19 lockdown and those that did take issue said their enforcement action wasn’t strong enough.

Chf Con Watson also said the new guidance from Government was ‘very clear from a policing perspective’ but urged people to continue to carry out social distancing from other people from different households.

He added that the updated rules ‘don’t make too much difference’ to the current policing style and paid tribute to the ‘vast majority’ of people in South Yorkshire who have abided with the rules.

“It’s really important to emphasise the vast majority of people are being very sensible and are taking personal responsibility for themselves and their families in respect of the wider community and the NHS,” Chf Con Watson said.

“On our levels of enforcement - to reiterate our approach is to engage with people and only to move to enforcement where it’s absolutely necessary like when people won’t take no for an answer.

“Out of a population of 1.4 million people, we’ve handed out around 390 fixed penalty notices which is a relatively small figure. I’m grateful to the public for their cooperation.

“If we encounter large groups of people we will be enquiring as to what the composition of that group is and if they are members of your household and you are respecting other household members then you can continue.

“The position from our perspective is very clear and I think people are still being encouraged to stay at home if they can but in our line of work, the most significant change is the Government are widening the permitted use of the outdoors.

“The key message from us will be while there are more people out and about, It is still important that social distancing is respected and only associate with members of your own household.

“People for the most part from whatever complaints that we’ve had have actually from those who say we should do more and enforce more harshly. I do think we have the balance right and we have had no complaints from the public when we have had to take enforcement action.”

“We’re asking for people to continue to only to associate with members of their household and to respect social distancing between them and others.”