Thousands of suspected quarantine-breakers not investigated by police

Thousands of travellers who might have breached quarantine restrictions were never investigated by Police Scotland due to a lack of accurate data.

Nearly two-thirds of 6,780 referrals from Public Health Scotland (PHS) were "weeded out" by the force.

The police's data also revealed that more than 80% of referrals were discarded in one week in February.

The health body said all referrals had contained a Scottish address and a phone number.

The system of spot checks on people requiring to self-isolate got under way in Scotland in July last year in an effort to slow the spread of Covid, and stop new variants arriving in the country.

Passenger arrivals into Scotland are provided by the Home Office to PHS, which in turn passes a sample of the data to NHS National Services Scotland, the organisation which runs the National Contact Tracing Centre.

If the Test and Protect team are unable to reach new arrivals who should be quarantining after three phone calls, PHS then passes on their contact details to Police Scotland to investigate further.

Cases closed

Since quarantine regulations came into force, Police Scotland has received 6,780 referrals from PHS relating to potential breaches of quarantine, as of 1 September.

The number of people involved could well be higher as a single referral could include several individuals.

Analysis of data collated from weekly Police Scotland bulletins reveals that to date 4,198 (62%) of all PHS referrals were "weeded out" by the force before any initial investigation took place. These cases were not examined further because there was not enough information provided to track down the individual.

Police Scotland confirmed these thousands of cases were closed, and never revisited.

Data from a separate freedom of information response also shows that in some cases the two-week quarantine window had already expired before they were referred to police.

A more granular analysis reveals that as many as 81% of new referrals in early February were discarded, largely due to insufficient data.

This "weeding out" rate remained high in June - around the time the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus was spreading rapidly through the country.

While the proportion of weekly discarded cases has since decreased to 30%, an average of 61 referrals were still screened out by police investigators in August.

According to PHS figures there were 36,375 people who arrived in Scotland from outside the UK in the last week of August, of which 5,442 were required to quarantine.

Of the 116 cases referred to police that week, almost a third were never investigated due to a lack of data.

A PHS spokesperson said: "In Scotland, the onus of responsibility to comply with travel regulations lies with the individual.

"Information that is passed to Police Scotland includes the traveller's name, date of birth, travel dates, contact details and which country they have arrived from.

"Information is also included on why the traveller was unable to be contacted by the Test and Protect team, either as a result of an incorrect or no phone number, or if the traveller did not answer the phone."

PHS said all referrals sent to Police Scotland contain an address in Scotland and at least one phone number.

While the health body did not address specific questions related to the accuracy of the contact data, one police document reported that a number of passenger locator forms contained incorrect details.

Police officers dispatched

Once the PHS referrals have been vetted, members of a Police Scotland resolution team begin their own investigation.

If the people in question cannot be reached by telephone, police officers in the vicinity are dispatched to attend the given address in person.

To date almost half of all these referred cases did not respond to phone calls, which led to the subsequent callouts of local officers.

A police report submitted to the Scottish police watchdog in June reported that "in respect of resolved referrals, 80% of the foreign travellers were found to be complying with quarantine restrictions."

A force spokesperson said a person's statement of compliance was taken on trust.

The remaining 20% of referrals meant approximately 400 cases were never traced.

The latest police data also shows that 18 fixed penalty notices, and six standard prosecution reports have been issued by police as of 1 September.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: "Our approach throughout the pandemic has not changed.

"Officers support people to follow the regulations by explaining, engaging and encouraging them to take personal responsibility.

"Officers have found that the majority of those we have spoken to after a referral from Public Health Scotland are following the rules.

"However, on occasion where people are not adhering to the regulations, enforcement has been necessary as a last resort."

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