Top South Yorkshire police officer criticises Prime Minister's lockdown advice for 'muddying water'

Police Federation Sgt Steve Kent has spoken out following Boris Johnson’s speech yesterday (May 10) in which the Prime Minister said lockdown restrictions around socialising would be loosened.

New guidance now says that people can take ‘unlimited’ exercise from Wednesday, and permits people to meet one-on-one in parks as long as two metre social-distancing rules are followed.

However the police force now faces difficulty in enforcing the new rules, which are too vague, Sgt Kent has said.

Sgt Kent explained: “Our police officers need to know where they stand in terms of what is expected of them. There are elements of the Prime Minister’s speech which are left open to interpretation and it cannot be down to the individual officer to be put in a position where they have to be the ones to interpreting them.

“It is clear that for South Yorkshire Police officers having to issue fines for breaches is a last resort and officers would rather engage and work with the public, however this muddies the water and could yet again expose our officers to undue criticism which is not fair when they like the NHS are working their socks off to do the best they can during this crisis.”

This Wednesday the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police will write a column for The Star about policing the lockdown under these new rules.