Suffolk Constabulary is reminding communities across the county to continue to adhere to the latest lockdown measures this weekend and ensure everyone is supporting the cause to save lives and protect the NHS.
56 people were fined for breaching lockdown rules over the three day period from Friday 15 Jan to Sun 17 Jan inclusive, and 39 people received warnings. Of these, on the Saturday & Sunday 45 fines were issued along with 30 warnings. In the rest of the week (Mon 11 Jan to Thur 14 Jan) 31 FPNs and 81 warnings were issued.
The incidents include one where a group who had travelled from Essex and Kent to Suffolk to ride each other motocross bikes off road, at a quarry behind Waldringfield on 17 January. 10 FPNs were issued in this case.
The force will continue to engage, encourage and explain first, but where people are blatantly flouting the rules officers will issue fines and that approach will continue over the coming weeks.
The message is simple – stay as local as possible to where you live. Where people are breaching the regulations and they are away from home without a reasonable excuse, they may be issued with a FPN.
ACC Rob Jones said: “Our officers will continue with dedicated COVID-19 patrols in the coming weeks to ensure people are staying true to the rules. The vaccine roll-out is continuing and while this is encouraging we must not get complacent or lose our vigilance and awareness of ourselves and each other.
“No exceptions to the rules can be made for weekends. Please show restraint, discipline and fortitude. I accept the situation is difficult, but the FPN figures from last weekend do clearly demonstrate that we will take action if flouting of the rules takes place. This approach will continue and the message remains that we must all follow the rules.”
The reporting took for potential breaches can be found here: https://www.police.uk/tua/tell-us-about/c19/v7/tell-us-about-a-possible-breach-of-coronavirus-covid-19-measures/
The full guidelines can be found on the https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus