We will help fight coronavirus crisis, says West Mercia Police Chief Superintendent
West Mercia Police Chief Superintendent Tom Harding on the ongoing battle against the coronavirus crisis.
First of all I want to say a huge thank you to everyone for the part you have played in complying with the new regulations in relation to Covid-19. I’ve been out on patrol myself and seen first-hand the steps people are taking, in particular some of our local business and retailers who have put some fantastic measures in place to ensure social distancing
We very much want people to make positive and sensible choices to be responsible citizens, by doing this you are saving lives, protecting the NHS and keeping yourself and family safe. It is encouraging to see that across the county the overwhelming majority of people are doing the right thing and are following the guidance and taking sensible steps to ensure social distancing is maintained, as described by NHS guidance.
The response to Covid-19 is being led by Public Health England, however, as I’m sure you would expect, we are working closely with Public Health England and all other relevant agencies to make sure our response is co-ordinated and all necessary steps are being taken to help save lives. Over the coming weeks officers will be on patrol throughout the county with their ultimate purpose to offer local residents reassurance. We understand how important engagement with our local communities is at the moment as we offer our support in helping people comply with the new guidance.
Officers will continue to be on foot patrol, providing a visible reassurance and speaking with the public, obviously at a safe distance. They may ask why people are out and about to establish individual circumstances and will ask people who don’t have a good reason to be out and about to go home. If they see gatherings of more than two people, they will disperse these. I want to offer my absolute reassurance though they will only look to take enforcement action as a last resort, this really is not our preference. Our aim is to engage, explain and encourage people, we want them to understand why the measures are in place and take a common sense approach to be a responsible citizen.
Over the past few days, I’ve been asked about essential travel and travelling short distances to exercise. My advice is if you have to travel a short distance to be able to take exercise while observing social distancing then this is absolutely the right thing. If you are fortunate enough to live in an area where you can walk, run or cycle from your own home then please do so rather than travel to exercise.
However, in some of our more urban and congested areas it may be safer to get in the car and travel a short distance to somewhere more remote rather than walking closer to home where there are lots of other people. However, what I would say is again please take a common sense approach and make sensible choices about travelling. If you drive somewhere and find it is busy, don’t stop.
Either go somewhere else or go home and come back at another time. We appreciate that not everyone has the benefit of a garden, rural setting or local park but please take sensible steps to minimise travel and maintain the NHS guidelines. Likewise, if you are able to shop less frequently to minimise your exposure, this is a sensible step to take and absolutely I would encourage this. If you do need to shop more regularly, perhaps due to transport or financial restrictions, then please take any sensible steps available to you to minimise the number of times you do need to visit the shops.
Most supermarkets have now implemented their own measures to comply with social distancing which is fantastic to see so please do follow these measures. They’ve been put in place for your safety, the safety of other shoppers and the safety of retail staff. I think it goes without saying too that please be mindful of the quantities of what you buying to make sure that everyone is able to have access to what they need.
Finally, I just want to say that I very much appreciate these restrictions are having a significant impact on everyone and at the current time we don’t know how long they will be in the place and absolutely want to make sure that people can cope with them.
Over the coming weeks and months we will continue to work with our communities to support them, protect the NHS, and safe lives. Please work with us #StayHomeSaveLives.
