Police powers

You were supporting a vulnerable person, so they are wrong.

 

Did you use the words “out and about” or did you explain what you were doing?

 

yes - explained why I was out and about - visiting neighbour's disabled niece etc.
Officer was very professional and I've no objection to the Police clamping down if it halts the spread of the CV.
It occurred to me that I hoped the PC herself didn't have the virus and may 'contaminated' me when talking to me.

 

Next time, refer them to the govt website...

9. Can I go out to help a vulnerable person?
You can only provide support to vulnerable people if you fulfil all of the conditions below:

• you are well and have no symptoms like a cough or high temperature and nobody in your household does
• you are under 70
• you are not pregnant
• you do not have any long-term health conditions that make you vulnerable to coronavirus

If the answer is yes to everything above, you may leave your house to provide care or to help a vulnerable person, following the advice set out here.

When outside the home, you should stay at least two metres away from others wherever possible.

We have seen an incredible effort across the country already, and we’re hugely grateful to those who support the vulnerable in their communities by volunteering day-to-day.

 

Officer wouldn't have known my reason for being out and about before stopping me - she was totally professional and I've no issue with being stopped. After a couple of minutes I was off on my way.
If police checks helps the fight against this virus I've no problem with what they do.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...riticism-lord-sumption?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

It's a good point about being careful not to antagonise people or communities unnecessarily.

 

Interesting quote from Lord Sumption's remarks, as now reported by the beeb:

"The tradition of policing in this country is that policemen are citizens in uniform, they are not members of a disciplined hierarchy operating just at the government's command," he said.

"The police have no power to enforce ministers' preferences but only legal regulations which don't go anything like as far as the government's guidance."

 

That's how I read it too.

 

My criticism of this post is reference to "peace time". Like it or not, we ARE at War. It is not war in the conventional sense but we have been invaded by an invisible enemy, damaging our economy and destroying our way of life and one that is killing civilians and at a higher rate than many conventional wars.
To put that into perspective, in the Falklands War a total of 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and thre civilians died whilst in the Gulf war, the allied nations had over 290 deaths, most suffered by the US, while Britain suffered 47 deaths.

By comparison It is not exactly a threat to our human rights to be stopped and asked a couple of simple questions before continuing on our way. Standard random spot checks are normal in many countries in Europe. The Carabinieri can often be seen at the roadside and they stick out their red 'ping-pong bats' as I like to call them to flag you down. They do, quite regularly, catch people with no licence, Insurance or Revisioni (MOT.) and to my mind that is a good thing given the way most Italians drive and the accident rates. No-one complains, it is not seen as insidious or an invasion of our human rights, it is just accepted as part of life.

"Chilling" ??? My ar*e!!!

 

Personally, I don’t care about Police stopping me during this time, however like others said I would during normal times.
That makes me reasonable or a hypocrite dependant on your view reasoning.
If that stoping people educates one person, which in turn leads to one life saved, surely its worth it.
In terms of the questions about driving etc IMO, it’s purely down to it’s easier to manage/Police due to amount of Police etc.

I will finish by offering this, which has arguments for both sides:
On the Industrial estate, where I am based 6 businesses had things stolen from their yards(metal etc), the Police stopped a Transit van with three blokes in to ask, where been/going, there response didn’t ring true and it turned out they were the ones responsible.
In normal times they would never have been stopped.

 

It certainly doesn't make you a hypocrite. There is good reason to spot check at present. When this is over, providing your details don't ping up any alerts on ANPR, you are driving safely and not driving at an unusual time in a high crime area (i.e. using a vehicle fitting description of offenders), there would be no reason to pull you over.

I've got good reason to be annoyed and distrusting of the police, having worked with them for 10 years however I am totally for them stopping people providing they are doing it in an appropriate manner.

 

I don't think the officer believed me about delivering food - I couldn't prove that I had - she 'reminded' me that I shouldn't have been out. She was pleasant and professional (and fortunately wasn't too concerned about the state of my rear wheel tyres!)

 

This is the problem - and it's a very serious problem which many can't see past and it's frightening how readily people accept this with the if you're not doing anything wrong you've nothing to hide mentality.

You shouldn't have to explain to the officer what you're doing.

You're innocent until proven guilty.

There should be no obligation on you to prove you are on a mercy mission the onus should be on the police to prove you are not.

However, as I read it they can issue you with a fixed penalty notice regardless of your actual purpose. You should be able to tell them you're not breaking the law - you're operating within the restrictions and it's their job to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you are breaking the law.

But here in a very dangerous situation, the police offer can simply tell you to do something. And if you don't you get a criminal punishment. the crime is not doing something wrong. The crime is failing to do as you're told by a public servant

It's an appalling abuse of power as one former supreme court judge has already commented

 

FFS - I have no problem at all with what happened.
I didn't feel it an abuse of power to be stopped. The PC was pleasant and professional.
If what the police are charged with doing helps in the fight against this lethal virus then all power to their elbow.

 

It's just been on BBC News that the exercise part of what we are being told to do isn't enforceable in the law they have passed.

 

That may be the case in some countries but just to clarify the situation in France, one has to print and complete a form stating the reason for leaving the house but there's no actual application or approval process. I think as much as anything it's to make people think twice about whether they really need to go out - if none of the checkboxes applies then it's probably classed as a non-essential trip. Of course, if the lockdown goes on much longer then they're going to have to add "Purchasing printer cartridges" as an option.