Over 800 fines issued in Wales for violating Covid-19 lockdown

SOUTH WALES POLICE has issued and carried out 229 fines and arrests in two months for violating coronavirus lockdown rules.

Dyfed Powys issued 417 fines (one fine per 1,242 people), North Wales Police issued 143 (one per 4,885 people) and Gwent issued 71 (one per 8,327 people).

A report set to go before the South Wales Police and Crime Panel on Thursday, June 4, says the force has issued one fine per 8,478 people in the region for breaking lock down rules.

Latest figures show that between March 23 and the end of Sunday, May 18, the force issued 179 fines and made 50 arrests for breaking lock down restrictions.

Between March 23 and May 5 in England and Wales, 13,445 COVID-19 penalty notices were issued and South Wales Police ranked 34th out of the 45 forces on this.

Breaches have included house parties, and social gatherings at addresses by people living at different addresses, young people congregating in groups in public places and people not adhering to government guidance on social distancing and/or essential travel.

Crime

The amount of crime recorded since March 23 has decreased by 26% overall but is gradually increasing back toward the level expected for this time of year, the report says.

It adds that despite Welsh Women’s Aid quoting a 49% increase in the volume of calls to their helplines during April 2020, the overall number of domestic abuse incidents reported to South Wales Police since the pandemic occurred is 3.7% lower than in the same period in 2019 and domestic abuse crime is also down by 13.5% but figures have been steadily increasing despite reporting being down.

South Wales Police recorded 54% fewer crimes against children in April 2020 when compared with the same period in 2019 and it has worked with NSPCC, Child-Line, MARF (Multi Agency Referral Form) and MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference) who have confirmed that they have not seen an increase in the number of referrals to them either.

In the two weeks just before March 23 there was a small increase in the number of business and commercial burglaries being reported but work done with businesses has seen this figure fall.

There has also been a 29% reduction in violence with injury offences and a 16% reduction in violence without injury offences but officers have made over 3,900 arrests during the same period and there are still significant serious and complex crime being reported.

Calls

Over 9,000 calls related to coronavirus have been made to South Wales Police since the end of March.

Since March 23, 8600 of these were related to Covid-19 related breaches.

Although the overall number of calls is down, there have been “significant
fluctuations in the number of calls being received,” the report says.

On the recent ‘Victory in Europe’ bank holiday on May 8, 62% more 999 calls and 68% more 101 calls were received than when compared with the same date in 2019, which adds up to an extra 1,216 calls.

But the number of calls received at the public service centre at the police headquarters in Bridgend since March 23 is lower than the same period last year with 27% fewer 999 calls and 5% fewer 101 calls being received.

This has led to reduced call waiting times, with 999 wait times down by more than a half, to two seconds, and 101 call wait times down by 85% to 18 seconds.

Complaints

Between March 23 and May 4, 143 complaints were recorded against South Wales Police compared to 127 during the same period last year which is a 22% increase but the report highlights that there has been a change of regulations which widens the definition of a complaint and allows the person making the complaint to insist it is recorded.

Of the 143 complaints, 33 were related to Covid-19 and include officers not adhering to social distancing or having the correct PPE (personal protective equipment), officers not taking into account that the person complaining is self-isolation or shielding, breaches of coronavirus restrictions not being responded to and isolation leading to current investigations being delayed.