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Police in England have issued 3,203 fines against people for breaching coronavirus lockdown measures between March 27 and April 13.
Senior officers stressed on Wednesday that the number of fines for breaching social distancing regulations amounted to less than 0.01% of the population of England, where the figures were gathered.
Martin Hewitt, the chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said the figures showed officers were “using those powers proportionately”.
It came amid criticism of some forces for over zealously using the lockdown laws, with incidents including an officer being filmed attempting to force someone inside from their garden, and one police chief suggesting they could check people’s shopping trolleys for “non-essential” items.
Sarah Glenn, the NPCC’s charging lead, acknowledged that in a small number of cases “where the police have got it wrong, we have put our hands up and that’s been clarified”.
Forces have dealt with 112,000 specifically coronavirus-related incidents and 178,000 anti-social behaviour incidents, some of which may also relate to the public health measures depending on how forces record it.
Men are overwhelmingly the worst offenders, accounting for 82% of cases, while a third of coronavirus offenders were aged 18 to 24 and a further third aged 25 to 35.
There were 39 tickets issued to under-18s which will be rescinded because the legislation does not allow for this, while 26 people aged between 65 and 100 breached the regulations.
The majority (60%) of offenders identified as white, 23% did not identify their ethnicity, 10% were Asian, 4% were Black and 2% were mixed race.
Officers said this showed no ethnicity was suffering disproportionate enforcement.
Hewitt said: “The vast majority of people are staying at home in order to protect the NHS and help save lives.
“However, we have seen a small minority of people who, despite our best efforts, have refused to follow the instructions and officers have needed to use their enforcement powers.
“I want to thank everyone who is being responsible and following the regulations.
“Provisional data on the number of fines issued by police forces shows proportionate policing of these new regulations.
“Police have interacted with the public in their tens of thousands, with most engagements ending positively and with no need for a fine.
“Our approach of engage, explain and encourage, and only as a last resort, enforce, is working and will continue.”
The NPCC also stressed that the data, covering the period up to April 13, was provisional, intended as a guide only and may be revised as more information becomes available.
The data also showed overall crime was down by 28% in the four weeks to April 12 compared to the same period last year, not including fraud.
Serious assaults and personal robbery have fallen by 27% and rape 37%.
Falls have also been seen in residential burglary (down 37%), vehicle crime (down 34%) and shoplifting (down 54%).
Calls to 999 are down by 14% and we have seen a 13% drop in 101 calls. Many more people are reporting online – a 61% increase.