A police federation boss has slammed ‘toothless tiger’ Covid laws and said there is ‘no way’ officers will be knocking on doors to catch Christmas rule breakers as Tier 4 officers have ruled out road blocks.
Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation said there is ‘no way’ officers will be knocking on doors of ‘normal households’ to catch rule breakers unless there is a ‘large party’ happening.
He also called Covid laws a ‘toothless tiger’ because if people refuse to open their doors to officers, they have no power to gain entry.
While speaking on the BBC, Mr Marsh was asked whether it was a ‘tough ask’ from the government to expect officers in Tier 4 areas to police the new rules.
He said: ‘It’s not a tough ask for us because it won’t be happening.
‘We won’t be knocking on people’s doors at all unless there is a large, large group – a party or something like that. But normal day to day households, there is no way that my colleagues will be dealing with that.’
He added that attempting to police Tier 4 rules is almost pointless because if households refuse to open the door to officers there are no laws in place to allow police to gain entry to the property.
A police federation boss has slammed ‘toothless tiger’ Covid laws and said there is ‘no way’ officers will be knocking on doors to catch Christmas rule breakers as Tier 4 officers have ruled out road blocks. Pictured: Officers at Kings Cross station
Police officers at Euston Station, London, with more being deployed to enforce travel rules at the capital’s stations
Wearing a protective face covering to combat the spread of the coronavirus, a member of the British Trasport Police speaks with travellers on the main concourse at Waterloo Station in London
Mr Marsh said: ‘When you’re given a toothless tiger in terms of the capacity of law then you have to work within that credence.’
And earlier this morning, the police and crime commissioner for Essex, Roger Hirst, revealed that officers are relying on ‘compliance by the public’ when it comes to the new Tier 4 rules.
When asked on Radio 4’s Today programme whether officers would be stopping people in train stations or drivers to ask them where they are going, Mr Hirst said: ‘Given that the travel itself is not the offence no we won’t. Travel itself is not the offence. And you can travel through a Tier 4 area on your way from Tier 2 to Tier 2.
‘What we will be doing is increasing the police presence so there’s more visibility but ultimately really this is down to compliance by the public.
Ken Marsh (pictured), chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation said there is ‘no way’ officers will be knocking on doors of ‘normal households’ to catch rule breakers unless there is a ‘large party’ happening
‘The vast bulk of the populous really want to make this work. They really understand what’s going on. Here in Essex with a population of 1.8million we’ve still had less than 10,000 engagements in total since this crisis started, only a few hundred fixed penalty notices and only a few dozen arrests.
‘So you can see most people want to make this work.’
Their comments directly contradict Health Secretary Matt Hancock who said on Sunday that the police would stop people travelling.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘Of course. I’ve spoken to the home secretary and the British Transport Police’s responsibility is to police the transport system. But I hope that this will be done by consent.”
Hancock went on to condemn those who descended on London’s train stations after Saturday’s Tier 4 announcement as ‘totally irresponsible’.
And rail chiefs slammed the government for its last-minute announcement which led to a complete collapse of social distancing on some services.
Videos and pictures of passengers crammed into trains at St Pancras on Saturday night revealed a public address message warning that social distancing would not be possible on the train.
Pictured: Drivers on the A40 in Tier 4 London this morning
Police outside Kings Cross Underground Station in London as the capital is plunged into a Tier 4 lockdown
A member of the British Trasport Police patrols the main concourse at Waterloo Station in London
Queues at Eurostar departures at St Pancras International Station in London as the capital moves into Tier 4 lockdown
St Pancras train station packed with masked passengers desperate to get home for Christmas on Saturday
East Midlands Railway said its services were running at nine per cent of normal capacity and it was given no warning that demand was about to surge.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told The Times that British Transport Police were ‘being deployed to ensure only those who need to take essential journeys can travel safely’.
He added: ‘It is incredibly important that people follow the guidance. Stay at home. Our focus must be stopping the spread of this virus, protecting lives and our NHS.’
Around 16million people across London and the south east were plunged into Tier 4 on Saturday, with Boris Johnson’s announcement cancelling families’ Christmas plans.
Those living in affected areas are being told to stay at home and not to travel to other areas, unless they have a legal exemption.
But senior police figures say officers have little power to enforce the latest restrictions.
Police are warning people will simply lie to officers and say they are travelling under one of the exemptions, which include work or essential travel for food.
Mr Marsh said: ‘I would accept there is legislation put in place but as a police officer who has been doing the job for a long time, it’s not enforceable.
‘Your functionality to perform your duty is nigh on impossible if they don’t tell you the truth. If they think they are going to get a fine, they won’t tell you the truth.’
The comments come as masked officers patrolled major stations including King’s Cross, St Pancras, Waterloo and Euston as Londoners tried to flee the capital after the PM plunged the city and swathes of the South into a brutal Tier 4 lockdown.
Queues at Eurostar departures at St Pancras International Station in London as the capital moves into Tier 4 lockdown
The PM slapped new draconian measures in a desperate bid to combat a surge in cases caused by a ‘mutant’ strain of coronavirus, just days after he said it would be ‘inhuman’ to cancel Christmas. The extraordinary U-turn has ruined the plans of millions who intended on spending the holiday with families.
Under the new Tier 4 rules non-essential shops – as well as gyms, cinemas, casinos and hairdressers – have to stay shut and people are limited to meeting one other person from another household in an outdoor public space.
Those in Tier 4 were told they should not travel out of the region, while those outside were advised against visiting. In the rest of England, Christmas easing has been severely curtailed, with households allowed to gather for just one day – Christmas Day itself – rather than the five days previously planned.
Wales has also announced it is going into a full lockdown and will follow suit by slashing bubbles to a single day. Nicola Sturgeon said at her own press conference that a ban on cross-border travel is being upgraded, and the law will be changed to cut bubbles to one day.
The move has caused chaos, with the PM facing accusations of ‘inconsistency’ after the last minute U-turn, with Tories calling for Cabinet resignations and a review of the data used to create the fourth tier.
Mr Hancock also warned the new mutant strain of coronavirus is ‘out of control’ as he suggested draconian Tier 4 restrictions could be in place ‘until we have the vaccine rolled out’.
The Health Secretary said people in Tier 4 areas should behave as if they are infected in order to combat the new variant of the disease which spreads quicker than its predecessor.
Mr Hancock said the new strain can be caught ‘more easily from a smaller amount of the virus being present’ as he confirmed areas subject to the toughest restrictions are likely to be in the top tier for the long haul.
The Cabinet minister said ‘we have got a long way to go to sort this’ and it will be ‘very difficult to keep it under control until we have the vaccine rolled out’.
Mr Hancock told Sophy Ridge on Sky News: ‘We don’t want to do any of this but it is necessary. This has been an awful end to what has been an incredibly difficult year and on Friday when we were presented with that new scientific evidence about the new variant it was our duty to act.
‘From being presented on Friday afternoon with the strength of how easy this new variant finds it to transmit from one human to another, we acted very quickly and decisively with the announcements that the Prime Minister set out yesterday.
‘I just think everybody watching will feel this sense that we both feel of disappointment and that it is just so difficult ahead of Christmas, which everybody was really looking forward to after all the sacrifices that have been made.
‘But unfortunately this virus, the new strain, was out of control. We have got to get it under control and the way that we can do that, the only way you can do that, is by restricting social contact and essentially, especially in Tier 4 areas, everybody needs to behave as if they might well have the virus and that is the way that we can get it under control and keep people safe.’
The Health Secretary said the new variant of the disease was more easily transmitted than its predecessor which left the Government with no choice but to act.
He said: ‘We just know that this new variant you can catch it more easily from a smaller amount of the virus being present.’
