I'm a police officer. I obviously can't speak for all officers or all police forces anymore than anyone on here can speak for all mumsnet, but seeing some of the posts here has prompted me to post.
The vast majority of us have loved ones and lives beyond the police and worry about all this just as much as the next person. I worry every day that I am bringing this virus into my home and potentially infecting my family. I have elderly relatives with underlying health conditions. The police are part of the same society as you, not separate to it.
For some officers, these worries can affect behaviour. Like all professions we have a majority who are fair and competent, some who are exceptionally good, some who are pretty poor, and a few bad apples. The latter are now very rare, but this crisis will no doubt expose them. Incompetence will show up now too, perhaps as over-zealousness.
My own force has a dedicated so-called 'snitch' line. This wasn't introduced (as the Daily Mail suggests) to encourage people to report. Instead it was to keep 999 and 101 lines clear, so we don't miss losing the higher immediate risk jobs (like domestics) among all the calls about neighbours ignoring the rules.
From the moment the lockdown was brought in and new powers mentioned, my own force has taken a very clear line about policing by consent, the importance of public confidence and using engagement to persuade people rather than enforcement.
Sometimes we have no choice. This is a profession where we regularly deal with some less publicly-minded individuals, some 'bad,' some simply vulnerable. Drug dealers are still out and about (we can't arrest for that without evidence but they're frequently breaching lockdown). Some people think it's funny just to go out and cough over people. We're getting a lot of calls about that and initially had to deal with it with no PPE whatsoever. We still only have very limited supplies of PPE. Worries about that will contribute.
I know some officers will get it wrong and I've cringed with the rest of you seeing some of those examples. I believe that when we get it wrong we should admit to it, to keep public confidence. Sadly, we will probably continue to get it wrong from time to time as police officers are human too, but I honestly do not believe it's as common as people think, despite the prevalence of tabloid stories and social media outpourings.
None of the officers I work with would search someone's shopping for 'non-essential' goods (there's no new power to do this for a start). None of the officers I work with would issue a fine for a 'non-essential' trip (even assuming we could prove that) unless that individual has come to our attention for regularly flouting lockdown.
We've been told to get out there and provide a community presence. This is supposed to be for reassurance and guidance more than anything. This doesn't mean we have nothing better to do. My own team of around 15 officers averages 8 investigations per officer which they have to progress, alongside responding to 999/101 calls (approximately 40 at any given time) and now new covid19 responsibilities.
My force continues to prioritise crimes with the greatest threat level (domestics are therefore at the top of the list). No officer is going to be enforcing lockdown above answering a domestic and if they did they would be rightly be disciplined for it.
I love my job. I love my family, friends and my community. They're all part of the same thing. I'm not 'other' to you. I don't have the answers and don't seek to make excuses, but the police are not all power-hungry jobsworths who don't care about real crime. Many officers are risking their health right now to keep people safe.