Plea for public to support new Covid-19 legislation

As the country faces its first weekend in our second period of national lockdown, Northamptonshire Police are urging people to follow Government guidance as we all do our best to help keep people safe.

The new restrictions came into place yesterday, November 5, and police officers will be conducting regular patrols during the coming weeks in order to engage with the public and remind people of the new rules.

Superintendent Elliot Foskett from Northamptonshire Police said: “We continue to live in unprecedented times and I know that the vast majority of people in Northamptonshire continue to do the right thing and follow the guidelines and I thank them for that.

“Our teams will continue to engage with people taking enforcement action if necessary. We don’t want to issue tickets but we won’t shy away from it.

“I understand that some people are becoming frustrated with the restrictions we’re all living with and I would ask that everyone remembers why these have been put in place. We want to help keep people safe and do as much as we can to help Northamptonshire come out of the lockdown into the lowest tier possible.”

Northamptonshire Police has a new dedicated policing team who will be focussed on tackling reported breaches of the covid-19 legislation, which has been established with the aid of Government funding.

Officers will be working closely with colleagues from our local councils as breaches involving individuals and businesses are investigated.

Supt Foskett added: “We have been given £286,000 by the Government to make sure we are enforcing the legislation and in Northamptonshire we have set up a team to look all of the breach reports we receive and respond to those complaints, deploying officers whenever possible.

“We are also working closely with our local councils who also have enforcement powers, supporting their efforts to ensure businesses are complying with the regulations they are expected to follow.”

If anyone is concerned about people breaching the Covid-19 restrictions, they are asked to report their concerns to police via northants.police.uk

Details of the restrictions are available on gov.uk/coronavirus