Police chief defends lack of fines over face coverings

The PSNI has been criticised after it emerged that no fines have been issued over the wearing of face coverings.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne appeared before the Northern Ireland Policing Board, alongside Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd, who leads the police effort on coronavirus.

Mr Byrne said: "I think it's important to recognise that from what we see from both the retail sector and from Translink, there's about 90% compliance with the restrictions.

"We don't necessarily see this as a place for policing, to be interrupting people's lives. We have an "e's' approach" and on occasions the three e's - encourage, explain, should be sufficient (to avoid enforcing) if officers come across people not wearing a face mask."

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd said the aim is to focus on the best use of police resources and that this varies over time.

"A lot of the public discourse at the minute around face coverings is almost hinting that police aren't doing anything in this space and nothing could be further from the truth," he said.

"The Executive regulations designated retail businesses to have powers to seek any such steps to ensure compliance with the wearing of up to but not including fixed penalty notices," he said.

Mr Todd said officers have visited at least 3,656 retail properties since regulations changed to support the businesses.

"We have had eight complaints from the public in relation to the wearing of face coverings in shops, there is a much lower level of public complaint and a much higher level of compliance," he sad.

Focus on house parties:

Mr Byrne said that officers have issued nearly 1,000 penalty notices in response to the coronavirus regulations, and over the weekend visited more than 350 licensed premises.

"The thing we have zoomed in on in the last few weeks, following the medical evidence, house parties in terms of the enforcement piece," he said

Mr Todd added: "House parties were prioritised by the police service because that was the request of health (service leaders), because that's what the information said was the source of the public health risk.

"Over 450 fines to date have been issued on that, another 30-odd last night, so the problem hasn't gone away."

"This is an ongoing daily priority for us in terms of tackling that community transmission borne out of house parties with large numbers. And a further 104 prohibition notices on householders who have been hosting those parties. So that is a substantial amount of work."

Mr Todd said work also goes on in terms of quarantine and self-isolation, with around 20 fines issued which cost more, from £1,000.

'Consistency' in messaging:

Simon Byrne said engagement between police and the Stormont Executive over coronavirus regulations, has been "a bit like the river outside the window, and the tide that ebbs and flows".

"Early on we struggled for meaningful engagement, and Alan and I, had to make the case about being at the table and being able to offer a view.

"We have also got an eye on the long-term consequences for trust and confidence with policing and how hard we tried to get the style right. Eventually there'll be commentary about whether we've been spot-on and I suppose in other cases where we could have done things differently.

"The consistency piece is something we tried hard to get right from the early days... clearly every circumstance is slightly different so you can't always apply one-size-fits-all policy."