Police threaten to search shopping trolleys to check you’re only buying essentials *amended by MNHQ*

[HeIenaDove]

metro.co.uk/2020/04/09/police-threaten-search-shopping-trolleys-check-buying-essentials-12532339/

Video of statement

twitter.com/RTaylorUK/status/1248204770977996800?s=20

I'm out to get some petrol (essential?) to drive food to my parents (essential?) I'll be sure to pick up as many non essentials as possible from the M&S at the garage while I pay.

I've added NWA onto my lockdown playlist.

I’ve just booked a supermarket delivery thanks to Cambridge police

I was going to leave them for people who need them but this is ridiculous. I’m not standing in a queue to get shopping that I have to carry home and then worry about what’s in the basket.

To be clear on the shopping trolley issue: This is about essential and necessary journeys, not what’s in your trolley. I have been clear that we will not be judge and jury on what is an essential item or not, but we may now probe the purpose of the journey

Which sounds like a reverse ferret because the overwhelming public response to the earlier version of the policy was "go fuck yourselves".

Officers have been patrolling supermarkets this morning

I am really quite bemused about where all these police officers have suddenly come from. I thought we had a shortage of 20,000 nationwide (Englandwide?)

Patrolling supermarkets, setting up roadblocks, telling people to stay out of their gardens? Sigh.

To be clear on the shopping trolley issue: This is about essential and necessary journeys, not what’s in your trolley. I have been clear that we will not be judge and jury on what is an essential item or not, but we may now probe the purpose of the journey

As I said on another thread, this is actually the same thing expressed a different way, he's just trying to use weasle words. He's saying that if an officer decides your item is non-essential, then by definition your journey must have been. And he's also assuming everyone goes to the supermarket by car rather than walking/cycling, which could be your daily exercise combined with a small shop (or a big shop if you have a cycle trailer).

To be fair other than some silly nonsense about people not being allowed to use parks earlier in the week (we are, other than play equipment), our local police have been sensible and have only tweeted about catching some speeding drivers in the town. And I've not seen any hovering around the supermarkets!

In terms of shortage of police, some will have nothing to do

But they had them spare for non crime all along

What can we do about this?

He also reverse ferreted because Priti Patel quite rightly pointed out that the rules he intended to enforce only existed in his own head and were not the ones the government put in place.