Police set up phone lines and online form to tell on neighbours

[chomalungma]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8162725/Police-urge-Britons-spill-beans-neighbours-suspected-breaching-coronavirus-lockdown.html

hey will be asked if their report concerns rule-breaking by an individual, group, or business, on what street, and at what date and time - by the minute.

It comes as police forces across the country face charges of 'overzealousness' from ex-MPs, lawyers, and human-rights groups this week.

Wow...

[ssd]

Good. People need to stick to the rules right now. We've no choice but to.

[Flowersforpowers]

They're not really encouraging it, they're trying desperately to take traffic off of 999 and 101. They know they can't stop people calling so they route them to a non emergency line. Makes sense.

[VivaLeBeaver]

The police don’t seem to understand the rules so no chance random neighbours will either.

[chomalungma]

Neighbours don't understand if someone is a key worker off to work, a volunteer delivering food or even a non essential worker who has been told to go to work.

I can see this going badly wrong.

[HappyHammy]

Its about keeping the phone lines open. Its to report obvious anti social behaviour not spying on a neighbour taking the dog out for a wee. If people adhered to the stay at home rules then this wouldnt be nevessary.

[Purpletigers]

I imagine it’s just to appease the curtain twitchers.

[ChanklyBore]

There are always lines to report your neighbours breaking rules. That’s not a pandemic thing.

I’ve used them to report noise, antisocial behaviour, minor crimes, animal neglect and cruelty.

I’ve used online forms to report graffiti, alert street cleaning to fly tipping.

[Blackforesthotchoc]

But OP, of course if you've done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear...

Statsi state here we come, with many millions cheering along the way. www.maxhertzberg.co.uk/background/politics/stasi-tactics/.

[chomalungma]

But OP, of course if you've done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear

And when they get overwhelmed...

We have 1400 police officers in our county. This is the biggest county on the UK.

How can they enforce that?
Who knows how many are off sick? How many are on duty at any one time?

[Unescorted]

Virtual sibling tantrums.....

Buuuuuuuuuuuuut he loooooooooooooooooooooked at meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[cologne4711]

Maybe the online forms will just disappear into a black hole. The curtain twitching would-be Stasi IMs (informers) will be happy because they've reported and the police can get on with policing.

If people adhered to the stay at home rules then this wouldnt be nevessary people ARE adhering to the rules but some nosey people consider that they're not. For example saying you can't go out more than once a day. You can - to shop, for work, for exercise or for quite a few other reasons.

If there are online forms, they should include a link to the legislation and ask people to read it and be sure they're right before reporting. And fining people for wasting police time if they report.

[Pentium85]

This is only happening because people are wasting police time and blocking up the phone lines.

It keeps the nosey people occupied to fill in a form and satisfies them

[MulticolourMophead]

If there are online forms, they should include a link to the legislation and ask people to read it and be sure they're right before reporting. And fining people for wasting police time if they report.

I agree with this.

[FaFoutis]

Someone will have a boring job deleting these reports as they come in.

[Tartyflette]

I think they are mostly to help police identify and deal with large groups of people 'gathering' for picnics etc, rather than someone taking the dog out more than once a day.
I hope so, anyway.

[DrFoxtrot]

Going by some of the posts on here, a lot of MNers will be using the new hotline!

[FaFoutis]

Yes Dr, maybe MN could publicise it to deflect the nutters.

[Wannabangbang]

And what about single mums who keep having to get food as theres no slots. I would hope my neighbours never report me because how else can we eat. My local shop has a 1 item limit and i do not drive so even a tesco shop i cannot carry enough to last a week let alone 2 weeks. I can see this going severely wrong as people are forced to go out to feed themselves.

[saraclara]

Typical Mail headline. Those forces aren't urging people to snitch. They're urging those who are determined to snitch, to use online means so they don't tie up the phone lines.

They'll ignore anything other than reports of large groups, I reckon.

[1forsorrow]

Who knows how many are off sick? How many are on duty at any one time? I'm retired but in my day the calculation was you needed 5 officers to have one on duty, that is to cover days off, holidays and training courses. So if you have 1400 officers that would be 280 on duty at any time, of course they won't all be out on the streets, arresting someone then results in you being off the streets, there will be meals breaks, senior officers will be doing other things etc and of course sickness will be higher now.

Having said that are you sure it is 1400 for the biggest county in the country? The force I was with had 5000 and we weren't the biggest. I know there have been cuts but that does seem a low number.

[IceCreamAndCandyfloss]

Good, too many seem to be carrying on as usual and not stopping heir children mixing etc. Fines need to be larger as it’s obviously not a deterrent for many it would seem.

[GreytExpectations]

That's a mumsnetters paradise. Its to shut up the curtain twitchers which I'm certain is mostly mumsnet posters 😂

[Beechboys]

I hope someone doesn't report me for going out every day next week

To work. In the NHS

Or DS. Whose job is in food supply

The trouble is neighbours often have no idea of the whole story.

[SarahInAccounts]

Great a busy bodies' charter. There's a few on this site will love it.

[chomalungma]

Having said that are you sure it is 1400 for the biggest county in the country

That's the figure for North Yorkshire police from 2017. I doubt it's increased given austerity.

Those are front line police figures