Coronavirus: Police have dished out 3,203 lockdown fines – as ‘car park’ trick being used by drug dealers is exposed
Written by News on 16/04/2020
Police have issued 3,203 fines for alleged breaches of coronavirus lockdown laws in just over two weeks.
But they have scrapped 39 fines given to 16 and 17-year-olds after discovering they had no powers to target children.
There has also been a 28% fall in overall reported crime compared with the same period (27 March 13 April) last year.
The figures were given in a briefing by police chiefs who said criminals were having to adapt to the new restrictions.
Lynne Owens, director-general of the National Crime Agency, said county lines drug dealers were frustrated at the travel ban.
She said: “They are dealing drugs in supermarket car parks and passing themselves off as key workers to try to avoid police.”
She also said a Polish lorry driver stopped by Border Force officers at Dover on Tuesday night had 14kg of cocaine hidden in a consignment of face masks.
Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), said forces were “in a good position” to deal with enforcing COVID-19 restrictions, in spite of 10% staff absence.
He said most crime had fallen – with rape down 37%, serious assault 27%, burglaries down 37% and vehicle crime down 34%. Domestic abuse was up 3%.
Anti-social behaviour was up 59%, largely linked to people ignoring coronavirus restrictions.
Sara Glen, of the NPCC, said eight out of ten of the 3,203 people fined for breaking lockdown rules were men, two-thirds of them aged 18-34.
She said some 60% were white, insisting that police were not acting disproportionately.
(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Police have dished out 3,203 lockdown fines – as ‘car park’ trick being used by drug dealers is exposed
