Nottingham Police broke up a street party with DJ and BBQ during the coronavirus lockdown
Police were called to the “out of control” street party following a number of calls from concerned members of the public.
Many people gathered on Teesbrook Drive in Nottingham, a video of the event shows a DJ playing music while a woman was seen trying to control the situation using a microphone.
Residents of the neighbourhood told the police that they were worried about “the large number of attendees and some people breaching social distancing rules” on Friday the 8th of May.
Police officers gave advice on the current social distancing rules but were forced to issue two fines for people who ignored them.
This comes after last month a Met Police Chairman said that officers were “Confused” about the rules of the nationwide lockdown measures, before the government implemented a slight easing to the current rules.
Neighbourhood Inspector for Nottinghamshire Police, Gordon Fenwick, said:
“Officers who attended engaged with some of the people present and gave strong words of advice to those who were not social distancing.”
“Officers remained at the event and issued two fines to individuals who decided not to follow the advice that was given.”
“The officers spoke to and worked with the event organiser who tried to reinforce the message about people needing to follow the social distancing rules.”
“Parts of the group began to move on and most of the people had left by 9pm.”
Chief Superintendent Rob Griffin added: “We have been clear from the outset that our approach during the coronavirus outbreak has been to engage with members of the public, explain the current Covid-19 regulations and encourage people to follow the instructions.”
“We have only used enforcement when it has been absolutely necessary to do so.”
“The vast majority of people our officers have spoken to have been really understanding and have listened to the advice we have given them.
“It’s pleasing that in this instance members of the community have been really supportive, actively helping with bringing some normality and encouraging people to follow the rules.
“Our priority is to keep people safe and we have found, as we did with the incident on this street, that by escalating our response appropriately and only where necessary we have resolved things safely.”
Yesterday it was announced that police will no longer enforce social distancing, with senior police officers saying that it would now be down to the public to ensure that themselves, as well as others, stick to the new rules.
The current Government guidance still says that the advice is to keep two metres apart from anyone that you don’t live with if you are out in public places.
This news comes after Northumbria Police is launching ‘Operation Shield’ to help tackle drug dealing in Newcastle.
