I'm torn about this. On one hand it seems heavy handed and making an example of one or two people. Coming down hard on people for what on the face of it is harmless. It seems like a slippery slope and controlling through fear.
On the other hand, there are a lot of people who are just not doing what they should because they just don't want to, and seem to want to make a point, rather than seeing the bigger picture.
I work in a popular seaside town, and it's really busy at the moment, queues for coffee shops and fish and chips all over the pavements, people congregating on the promenade in groups, traveling on public transport to get there.
Mixing like that is what is spreading the virus, what's putting the NHS under increasing pressure, and why we have lockdown again, why schools are closed, why jobs and businesses are lost or at risk.
We need some enforcement where I am, a presence at least because there's nothing at the moment and people just aren't following the guidelines, laws, rules, whatever they are termed, and have lost sight of the reasons they're there in the first place, some people are so caught up in fighting 'the system' I think they've forgotten that there's this threat out there that was always going to negatively affect everyone in some way, no matter what response we had from the government.
To be honest, although I'm uncomfortable with these particular reports of the policing of the covid rules, I think we're maybe only hearing of these cases because they are heavy handed. There's been over 300 fines issued in my local force area, only 1 has been in local press/on Facebook because it was imo, heavy handed and a bit over zealous. At least some of the others may be totally justified, but we're not hearing about that because they're not sensational enough.