Dorset's PCC calls for clear guidance on 'local exercise'
Officers are patrolling the county in 'coronavirus cars'
Dorset’s Police and Crime Commissioner says rules surrounding where you’re allowed to exercise should be clearer.
Under lockdown restrictions the Government says we can go out and exercise once a day in our ‘local area’.
But, Martyn Underhill says there should be more guidance around what constitutes as 'local'.
It comes after the Home Secretary Priti Patel stressed the need to stay local for exercise, and emphasised each person’s own personal responsibility.
How do police enforce that?
Last weekend, a group of people were sent home from Durdle Door by patrolling officers after they travelled 170 miles from Coventry.
Police determined that was not a ‘local’ trip and handed out two fines.
Martyn Underhill says the 'fuzzy logic' could drive a wedge between the police and the public:
“The police are really struggling to enforce these new rules. The government need to make the rules clearer, particularly in relation to what is local in relation to exercise.
“The police are doing the best they can, it’s not easy because the rules aren’t very clear.
“My worry about this is that we are going to damage the relationship between policing and the public long term over this coronavirus, because they are the blunt weapon to keep people at home.
“I really worry that that bond between the public and the police is going to be broken.”