Residents asking Northants police to arrest neighbours disobeying coronavirus lockdown

People have been calling police to report their neighbours running twice a day.

People are ringing Northamptonshire Police to report neighbours who have broken the lockdown rules and calling for them to be arrested.

Northamptonshire Police chief constable Nick Adderley says the control room has been inundated with calls from people reporting neighbours who have been breaking the lockdown measures brought in by Government this week.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered the nation to stay at home to stop the spread of coronavirus and said people should only exercise outdoors once a day.

Chief constable Nick Adderley says his force will issue penalty notices if required but says he would see no fines given as a success.

Some Northamptonshire folk have called the police to report neighbours who have gone for two runs a day instead of one, or who are having gatherings in their back garden.

In the coming days police will be given the powers to fine anyone who is flouting the law.

Mr Adderley says his officers will issue penalty notices if necessary but wanted to educate the public first.

He said: “We are getting calls from people who say ‘I think my neighbour is going out on a second run – I want you to come and arrest them’. We have had dozens and dozens of these calls.

Drones will be communicating public information messages soon.

“We have had reports from people whose neighbours are gathering in their back gardens. We won’t have police officers crashing through garden fences to check the ID of everyone who is there to see whether they live at the house or whether they should be self-isolating.

“We wouldn’t want to discourage people from making us aware, but we have to set expectations. If people think we will be descending on these houses with blue lights, then we won’t.”

He added: “But be under no illusion, we will be using these powers if necessary.

“However success for us means that we do not have to issue any of these penalty notices. We are in unprecedented times. This is real and people are dying. If we don’t work together we are going to cripple the NHS.”

Northamptonshire’s top cop said his officers would be out on the streets and highly visible and accessible. He said people should not use the lockdown as an excuse to get back at neighbours who they may be in a dispute with, but said people could challenge neighbours who were not obeying the lockdown measures if they felt safe to do so.

Six new drones have been ordered by Northants Police and will arrive at the weekend. They will then take to the skies to communicate public information messages.The number of coronavirus cases in the UK now stands at 9,529 according to public health data. There have been 463 deaths. 43 cases have been recorded so far in Northamptonshire.