Police commander warns against Covid complacency: “We’ve got to keep going”

Superintendent Mike Walker is leading North Yorkshire Police’s response to the pandemic and he chairs the multi-agency North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum.

These are his comments about the past week’s (9-16 February 2021) Covid-19-related issues and his plea to residents to maintain their resolve:

“News that infection rates are reducing in all parts of North Yorkshire and the City of York is greatly heartening.  

“This is down to the collective effort within our communities and all the agencies working together.  

“The continued roll-out of the vaccination programme is clearly the significant boost that will, eventually, underpin our return to a more normal way of living. This is what we are all striving for. 

“However, we’re still in a precarious position as the infection rate can fluctuate. We must continue to do all we can to abide by the health protection regulations which are designed to limit the spread of the virus. 

“This is not the time to become complacent about the coronavirus. We’ve got to keep going and make sure all the hard work and sacrifice has been for the worthwhile purpose – protecting our loved ones and returning to the lifestyle we have taken for granted in the past. 

“As for the reckless minority who think the regulations do not apply to them, we will continue to actively target these blatant breaches, while providing a highly-visible and reassuring presence for the wider community who are doing the right thing and helping to tackle this public health crisis.”   

Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued in the past week (9-16 February 2021)

•  186 FPNs issued in the past seven days, making it the busiest week during the third lockdown
• Currently, 826 FPNs have issued since the third lockdown began on 6 January 2021
• 2,719 FPNs issued since the first lockdown in March 2020
• A full district level, gender and breach breakdown of the figures from the past seven days and since the third lockdown began on 6 January 2021 are included in the tables below

Incidents of note…

House parties and indoor gatherings continue to be a problem in the Scarborough District and in York.

To demonstrate the challenges police teams are facing on the coast, two people in Scarborough were part of an indoor gathering near the town centre at 10pm on Saturday (13 Feb) and were issued with fixed penalty notices. Nearly three hours later at 12.45am on Sunday (14 Feb), the same two people were at another indoor gathering 4.5 miles away in Eastfield where they were again issued with fixed penalty notices.

Watch this video…

BBC Look North reporting in Scarborough on Friday 12 February 2021

Also…

• four men from Leeds travelled to Gargrave – said they were out for a drive due to “boredom”
• A couple travelled from Hull to Grosmont for a walk
• four people travelled from Manchester to Whitby to “see the sea”
• two people (one from Wakefield, West Yorkshire and the other from Glasgow, Scotland) met in a motorhome near Harrogate
• three people from Leeds travelled to a derelict building near Selby for a look around it – apparently, it’s called “urban exploring”

Superintendent Walker said: “It is very disappointing and frustrating that a small minority of people are going out of their way to break the rules during a public health crisis.

“Whether it is due to lockdown fatigue, sheer ignorance or just blatant defiance of the health protection regulations, there is simply no valid excuse for such reckless behaviour. They are putting lives at risk, including their own.”  

***Reporting suspected breaches of the health protection regulations***

Incidents should primarily be reported via the home page of the North Yorkshire Police website.

Tables

LOCKDOWN 3 NOTICES ISSUED SINCE 9 FEB 2021				Gender		Breach
Local Authority Area where Notice Issued	Notices Issued	Local Residents	Visitors	Male	Female	Being Outside Place of Living	Outdoor Gathering	Indoor Gathering	Obstruct / Contravene / Fail to Close Business
Craven	23	0	23	21	2	23	0	0	0
Hambleton	15	7	8	12	3	10	0	5	0
Harrogate	7	0	7	6	1	7	0	0	0
Richmond	2	2	0	2	0	0	2	0	0
Ryedale	5	5	0	3	2	5	0	0	0
Scarborough	64	48	16	32	32	18	2	44	0
Selby	15	1	14	9	6	15	0	0	0
York	55	48	7	27	28	11	0	44	0
TOTALS	186	111	75	112	74	89	4	93	0

 

TOTAL NUMBER ISSUED SINCE 6 JAN 2021				Gender		Breach
Local Authority Area where Notice Issued	Notices Issued	Local Residents	Visitors	Male	Female	Being Outside Place of Living	Outdoor Gathering	Indoor Gathering	Obstruct / Contravene / Fail to Close Business
Craven	87	3	84	75	12	86	1	0	0
Hambleton	55	16	39	47	8	41	5	9	0
Harrogate	55	16	39	45	10	37	1	17	0
Richmond	14	5	9	14	0	7	7	0	0
Ryedale	16	6	10	13	3	16	0	0	0
Scarborough	333	235	98	194	139	110	32	184	7
Selby	60	28	32	47	13	32	3	21	4
York	206	167	39	115	91	48	3	155	0
TOTALS	826	476	350	550	276	377	52	386	11

• Please note – these are the figures which have been approved for submission to ACRO and may be subject to further change.

 

Posted on 17 February 2021 at 09:59am in News stories