New COVID-19 legislation – update from CC Lee Freeman

Humberside Police update:-

In response to the new legislation that has been passed by Government today, Humberside Police Chief Constable, Lee Freeman said: “I would like to thank our communities across the Humberside area for their support over the last seven weeks. The overwhelming majority of people have listened to the Government advice and because of this, we now find ourselves in a position where the guidelines and restrictions have been changed.

“The current pandemic has been, and remains, a challenging time for many people and this has also been the case for policing. Our teams have needed to respond quickly to emergency legislation and ensure that we get the balance right between policing by consent, using enforcement in line with the national guidance and also continuing to fulfil our core role of day to day policing.

“The officers and staff of Humberside Police have, and will continue to be, there for our communities and I wish to record my thanks again for their continued support.

“We are all now able to spend more time outdoors and I would encourage everyone to take personal responsibility for doing that within the social restrictions set out by the Government. 

“Our policing approach at Humberside Police will continue to use common sense and discretion. We will continue to deliver day to day policing and where we see potential breaches, we will engage, explain and encourage members of the public to comply with the new rules. As before, we will only use enforcement where we feel we have no other option.

“This approach reflects that the current situation is a public health crisis and with the new amended rules, my message is that adhering to social distancing guidelines is a matter for individuals and not an area that policing can become involved in.

“What has not altered, is that gatherings of three or more people (who are not from the same household) is not permitted.

“However, I do urge people to remember the risk has not been eradicated and so the overall advice is still to stay at home as much as possible to help keep the infection rate down.

“Our online reporting tool will remain open for those who have serious concerns about mass gatherings and we will continue to review and respond to these where we consider it proportionate.  The system is there to ensure our emergency 999 and non-emergency 101 lines remain available for other incidents and throughout the last seven weeks, calls for our services have continued in addition those wishing to report concerns about the virus and others behaviour.

“Much of what is reported to us via the online system is sent to our local community policing teams to check on and carry out necessary action as required, which includes regular patrols in an area. This will continue, but our role moving forward places more emphasis on individual responsibility as opposed to policing.”