Surrey Police faces biggest challenge yet following introduction of third national lockdown

Surrey Police is facing its biggest challenge yet since the start of the pandemic, Chief Constable Gavin Stephens has warned as a third national lockdown was introduced this week.

Surrey Police is facing its biggest challenge yet since the start of the pandemic, Chief Constable Gavin Stephens has warned as a third national lockdown was introduced this week.

The emergence of a new and much more transmissible strain of the coronavirus has resulted in more of the Force’s employees currently off sick and at home self-isolating, and he urged the Surrey public to continue adhering to the rules and stay at home to protect the lives of health and care workers, police officers and staff and others working in public service to keep our county safe.

He said: “As we enter a third national lockdown, this remains a challenging and unprecedented time for everyone. However, we have seen a high level of compliance in Surrey, even during the Christmas and New Year period, and I would like to once again thank the county’s residents doing the right thing and staying at home.

“However, the situation the Force is currently facing is much more serious than it has been so far and this has presented us with additional challenges.

“The robust preventative measures that we put in place at the start of the pandemic have stood us in good stead so far. However, the new variant of the virus is so transmissible that even these robust measures are sometimes insufficient to protect our staff.

“We had to close Staines custody centre for 12 days last month, which meant that only two out of our three custody suites were open, resulting in staff having to travel further for work and to transport prisoners in order to keep people safe. We also had to ask for assistance from our colleagues in Hampshire during one shift at the end of December as so many of our call handlers were off sick or self-isolating.

“Our frontline officers and staff are used to putting themselves at risk every day – that is part of the job. But this time is different – they are not only putting themselves but also their loved ones in harm’s way – and that is why I am appealing to the public now more than ever to strictly follow the rules and stay at home to save lives.”

Despite these challenges, CC Stephens reassured Surrey residents that the Force remained resilient, and would continue to police the pandemic alongside business as usual.

He said: “The Force has always pulled together as a team during difficult times and this is no exception – there is a strong support system in place not only amongst our staff but also with our other emergency and public sector colleagues as well.”

Stressing that officers would continue to use the well-established 4Es policing approach of engaging, educating and explaining and only enforcing in exceptional cases and only as a last resort, CC Stephens said: “There will soon be life after the pandemic, and it is so important that we have a strong sense of community and support for policing.  We will engage with people who appear to be in breach of the regulations and we will be strongly encouraging compliance with the new lockdown. 

“However, these new regulations need little explanation, so where people show a blatant disregard for the rules, we will not hesitate to take enforcement action. In the last two weeks, we have issued one £10k Fixed Penalty Notice and one summons for holding a gathering of 30 people or more.                         

“We have also issued 572 Fixed Penalty Notices between the start of the lockdown on 23 March and 5 January for contravention of lockdown regulations.”

CC Stephens added: “However, the risk of a fine should not be the motivation for people to follow the rules – the motivation should be the pain and suffering that this virus is inflicting and which is affecting us all.”

 

£10k fines/summons issued:

Large house party with around 60 people in attendance at an address in Ockham Lane, Cobham in the early hours on 20 December – owner/organiser issued with a summons for ‘holding or participating in a holding gathering of more than 30 people in a private dwelling in a tier 4 area’;

A £10k fine was issued after police discovered a large gathering at an address in Kingswood in the early hours on 2 January. Officers were on patrol when they noticed a large number of cars going into an address in Stubbs Lane. An occupant at the address claimed that they were filming a video shoot for a wedding party promotion. More than 30 vehicles were parked at the address and the majority of the guests were dispersed.

FPNs - the majority have been for breach of regulation 4 - gatherings outside and indoors in excess of the numbers allowed (depending on the restrictions at that time).