Covid-19: Humberside PCC says restrictions now 'almost unpoliceable'

Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner Keith Hunter said he had "never seen the roads as busy"

Lockdown restrictions are becoming "almost unpoliceable," a Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has warned.

Keith Hunter, PCC for Humberside, said fewer people were sticking to the rules since plans for easing lockdown were announced.

The force has issued 555 fixed penalty notices since 1 January, almost double the number issued in 2020.

Chief Constable Lee Freeman said his officers were only able to respond to just under half of reported breaches.

Under the government's roadmap to end lockdown, schools and colleges returned on 8 March and two people from different households were able to meet outdoors.

From the end of this month, the "stay at home" rule will end and people will be able to meet outside under the "rule of six".

Speaking at the force's Police and Crime Panel, Mr Hunter said: "Lockdown's becoming almost unpoliceable since restrictions started to ease, the College of Policing has said it is becoming unpoliceable.

"We're still in lockdown now and I've never seen the roads as busy. The signal has been put out there that things are going back to normal."

He said he understood the reason for outlining a relaxation but said expecting officers "to police the whole population is unreasonable", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"Doing that would take us away from policing everything else," he added

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Mr Freeman said 300 fixed penalty notices had been issued between March and the end of December 2020.

However, in January 238 were handed out followed by 283 in February.

He said the force had initially tried to engage with people and encourage them to stick to the rules.

"But as we got into January and February when it got to the point where we've seen some of the highest infection rates in the country we quickly moved to start issuing tickets," he added.

Mr Freeman said the force had received a total of 11,633 reports of coronavirus breaches but only had the resources to respond to 44% of them.

The Home Office has been contacted for a comment.

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