Spoken to by the police

[Foldinthecheese]

This morning my husband and I took our three children on a long walk/scoot to a local park that is probably two miles away. We had seen the recent police guidance that said stopping for a snack during a long period of exercise is allowed, so we packed some crisps, fruit and our water bottles, intending to have them in the park before heading back home. We have twin DSes, four, and a one year old DD.

While sitting in the park (in a green space, far from any paths, with no one nearby) two police officers approached and said we needed to move on because what we were doing was against guidelines and someone had called to report us. It wasn’t a problem to leave, but I was a little annoyed by the situation. I mentioned the guidelines regarding a snack during long exercise and they seemed unaware of this, and asked to see it on my phone. They then said that it was an issue of public perception, which I understand, but I’m not sure why that would impact the legality of our actions. One officer suggested that we should have gone to a park closer to our house, but the space isn’t really comparable and it’s more of a play park: lots of equipment that is currently covered in caution tape.

I don’t know really why I’m writing this, except I feel frustrated. We’ve followed all the guidelines for the past month and it’s annoying that the police seem unaware of the guidance that has been made publicly available that says what we did was acceptable. It was also just really nice to go slightly further than the one mile radius around our house and enjoy seeing the flowers in the park, and it feels like it put a dampener on the morning.

Foldinthecheese YANBU, don't let it put a dampener on your week.

It sounds like passing your phone to the police for them to read the latest update was probably the most dangerous but of your day.

The mind boggles.

Well you didn't say you passed it to him/her but he/she must have had great eyesight if he could read guidelines off a mobile at 2 meters!

Soontobe60

Agree with your post.

PS that is me angry at the police, not at you OP.

Are people really so incapable of critical thinking?

Oh do fuck off with your condescending nonsense. I'm just putting forward what the police might have been thinking. The truth is we're in an unprecedented situation where different countries have taken different tactics and no one is really sure of the best way to tackle this thing, so give them a break.

OP, is this you?!

@Soontobe60 Your response seems unnecessarily combative. First of all, I can assure you that my children did sit down to have their snack and rest. The baby was asleep in the pushchair and the boys were hungry, tired and ready for a short break.

I have never moaned about the lockdown. I have found it challenging but understand why it is necessary. With regard to NHS clapping, I don’t tend to do so anyway, but also don’t think that I have somehow been disrespectful to NHS workers by following published guidelines.

So, effectively you've gone for a drive to a park, had a walk about and a (albeit short) picnic? You've said 10 minutes, but if someone saw you sitting, then called the police and the police arrived and you were still sitting, was it really 10 minutes?

I dunno really, it doesn't really seem in the the spirit of essential travel to exercise , seems more like a family day out. I'm not suggesting no-one is allowed to have fun or that you've technically broken any rules but the cumulative effect doesn't really seem appropriate to be honest.

Judge rinder..are you sure you are a real police officer?

0 22:51:55
@Mummy0ftwo12 no you absolutely cannot. I’m police staff and I’d be sending officers to move you on. The spirit of going out to exercise is to keep on the move and not stop for games etc. If you do it, then another family comes along and sees you doing it, so they start too, amd before you know it the area is heaving and you cannot maintain distance.

I must wish people would follow the guidelines and stop thinking they’re so fucking special that it doesn’t apply to them

Here’s guidelines from the BBC website

The resemblance is uncanny, beautifulday. Dressing my children in old curtains probably also drew unnecessary attention.

Give the police a break. In these unprecedented times (yep that annoying word) they are doing their best, like everyone else.
Someone reported you and the police turned up and spoke to you, if you were only there 10 minutes the police must have got their using a time machine! Yes they should understand the guidelines but the goalposts keep moving and I can guarantee that they've been given a set of broad guidance for their own interpretation and everyone's view is different. Just look at the views on this thread.

No, @WaxOnFeckOff, we walked/scooted two miles from our house to the park, walked/scooted around the park a little bit, sat down for a snack, scooted around a little more (looking for painted rocks), and then carried on back home. We really were sitting down for about ten minutes. As I stated previously, I think they must have officers in the park ready to move people on quickly.

Just stop the picnics.

Here’s the full link And it’s come from the National police chiefs council

Some people just want to suck the tiny bit of joy out of what’s left in life OP
If judge Rinder, you really are police staff, then you may need to ask for a refresher course and stop wasting police time..if you’d send a police officer on a wild goose chase to a family who was obeying the rules

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52312560

It is absolutely ridiculous to think it wrong to give a child a snack on a long walk. I got a really bad blister on our walk the other day and had to sit down to try and sort my foot out, the looks I got. Competitive lockdown, bah

They said only the other day people are allowed to drive further than they claimed before to visit somewhere nice for a walk- and 2 miles is nothing.

There are some bored snitches around using telling on people to make themselves feel important.

The police were being overzealous in the past but I think in this particular case it was that they felt they had to do something because someone moaned. You were doing nothing against the rules- some people need to get a life. xxxxx

You took crisp, fruits and water op?
You were hardly cracking open the bbq
I could weep at how petty my beloved country has become.

Yours sound like a lovely family op and the sort who would’ve made yourselves scarce , if other families tried to get into your two metre space.
I could weep. I really could.

I think they must have officers in the park ready to move people on quickly.

Which is what they did, i don't think you should be getting annoyed at them to be honest. I think you've pushed the rules in order to have a day out. It's not really in the spirit of staying at home and taking essential exercise.

It wasn't really essential to go for so long and stop for a break really.

the exercise is supposed to be suitable to your level of fitness and sounds like it was too much for your 4 year olds and therefore not in line with their level of fitness and therefore why they needed a picnic stop and a snack.

It doesn't matter about

Perception
In the spirit
If they had a garden
Blah blah blah

The guidance is the guidance and if they followed it they followed it, if that's an issue it's up to the government to clarify it, to explicitly say time limits, radius from house etc. Everything else is simply opinion, which is irrelevant to the law

I’m pregnant and went on an hours walk on Sunday in the heat. At the end of the hour I needed a few minutes’ sit down on a bench with a satsuma and some water before setting off for the 20 minute walk home. Do people seriously think stopping for a drink and a snack and a sit down during exercise is so abhorrent?

[FWIW I’m working from home (officially full time but things are manic so I’m doing crazy hours) so a long walk at the weekend is necessary... I’m currently doing about 400 steps a day in the week and usually manage the full 10k daily commuting in London. Have really noticed my fitness dip as I’ve become more pregnant and done much less walking over the last 4 weeks.]

Glad you managed to get some good exercise OP. Mental health is something the government are very keen on, hence the encouragement to exercise and get some fresh air. I am sure it did you all good.

OP, have you not seen The Rules? Especially #15...😂😂 (pinched from Facebook):

As we enter the next 3 weeks of lockdown here is a summary of the advice:

1. You MUST NOT leave the house for any reason, but if you have a reason, you can leave the house

1. Masks are useless at protecting you against the virus, but you may have to wear one because it can save lives, but they may not work, but they may be mandatory, but maybe not

1. Shops are closed, except those shops that are open

1. You must not go to work but you can get another job and go to work

1. You should not go to the Drs or to the hospital unless you have to go there, unless you are too poorly to go there

1. This virus can kill people, but don’t be scared of it. It can only kill those people who are vulnerable or those people who are not vulnerable people. It’s possible to contain and control it, sometimes, except that sometimes it actually leads to a global disaster

1. Gloves won't help, but they can still help so wear them sometimes or not

1. STAY HOME, but it's important to go out

1. There is no shortage of groceries in the supermarkets, but there are many things missing. Sometimes you won’t need loo rolls but you should buy some just in case you need some

10. The virus has no effect on children except those children it effects

11. Animals are not affected, but there is still a cat that tested positive in Belgium in February when no one had been tested, plus a few tigers here and there…

12. Stay 2 metres away from tigers (see point 11)

13. You will have many symptoms if your get the virus, but you can also get symptoms without getting the virus, get the virus without having any symptoms or be contagious without having symptoms, or be non contagious with symptoms...

14. To help protect yourself you should eat well and exercise, but eat whatever you have on hand as it's better not to go out shopping

15. It's important to get fresh air but don't go to parks but go for a walk. But don’t sit down, except if you are old, but not for too long or if you are pregnant or if you’re not old or pregnant but need to sit down. If you do sit down don’t eat your picnic

16. Don’t visit old people but you have to take care of the old people and bring them food and medication

17. If you are sick, you can go out when you are better but anyone else in your household can’t go out when you are better unless they need to go out

18. You can get restaurant food delivered to the house. These deliveries are safe. But groceries you bring back to your house have to be decontaminated outside for 3 hours including Pizza...

19. You can't see your older mother or grandmother, but they can take a taxi and meet an older taxi driver

20. You are safe if you maintain the safe social distance when out but you can’t go out with friends or strangers at the safe social distance

21. The virus remains active on different surfaces for two hours ... or four hours... six hours... I mean days, not hours... But it needs a damp environment. Or a cold environment that is warm and dry... in the air, as long as the air is not plastic

22. Schools are closed so you need to home educate your children, unless you can send them to school because you’re not at home. If you are at home you can home educate your children using various portals and virtual class rooms, unless you have poor internet, or more than one child and only one computer, or you are working from home. Baking cakes can be considered maths, science or art. If you are home educating you can include household chores to be education. If you are home educating you can start drinking at 10am

23. If you are not home educating children you can also start drinking at 10am

24. The number of corona related deaths will be announced daily but we don't know how many people are infected as they are only testing those who are almost dead to find out if that's what they will die of… the people who die of corona who aren’t counted won’t be counted

25. You should stay in locked down until the virus stops infecting people but it will only stop infecting people if we all get infected so it’s important we get infected and some don’t get infected

26. You can join your neighbours for a street party and turn your music up for an outside disco and your neighbours won’t call the police. People in another street are allowed to call the police about your music.

27. No business will go under due to Coronavirus except those businesses that will have already gone under.

How are the police to know that you sitting in the middle of the green is your family stopping for a quick snack as opposed to a picnic? They aren’t going to be doing stop and searches to see how much food you have to classify it as a snack or a picnic.
So as the policeman said to you, what you did is subject to perception. To the person who reported you, it was perceived that you are having a picnic. The police investigated and you weren’t but the person who reported you will probably spread the story that there are people having picnics in the park. Then enforcing a lockdown becomes so much harder.

Give the police a break. In these unprecedented times (yep that annoying word) they are doing their best, like everyone else.

Except clearly they're not, when they're stopping people who are doing nothing wrong according to the most recent guidelines. @JudgeRindersMinder has shown that on this very thread, where she clearly seems not to be up to date with what's allowed and what isn't.

You can now drive to the place where you take exercise as long as you don't spend more time driving than exercising, and yes, you can sit to take refreshment. So the police should have accepted OP's explanation without argument.