Police chief’s U-turn on shopping trolley search as Priti Patel slaps down calls for officers to check what goods people are buying from stores during lockdown
- Chief Constable Nick Adderley warned that police could soon increase powers
- National Police Chiefs Council has since released a statement dismissing claims
- Controversial remarks were met with slapdown from Home Secretary Priti Patel
A police chief provoked a backlash yesterday after he said officers may have to search shopping trolleys if the public flout the rules.
Chief Constable Nick Adderley warned that police could soon have to snoop on shoppers or impose road blocks to check people were going out of their homes for only essential reasons.
The Northamptonshire Police chief claimed the public had enjoyed a ‘three-week grace period’ and said his force will now be issuing £60 fines and arresting those caught outside without a good reason.
Northamptonshire Police Chief Constable Nick Adderley (pictured yesterday) said his force is only ‘a few days away’ from introducing road blocks and searching shopping trolleys
He said: ‘We will not, at this stage, be setting up road blocks.
‘We will not, at this stage, start to marshal supermarkets and check the items in baskets and trolleys to see whether it’s a necessary item.
‘But be under no illusion, if people do not heed the warnings and the pleas I’m making today, we will start to do that.’
Shoppers leave The Range in West Bromwich today after stocking up for the Easter weekend
Police officers talk to a man playing tennis in Northampton as Northants Police announce they are toughening up their social distancing enforcement
Last night his controversial remarks were met with a slapdown from Home Secretary Priti Patel (pictured)
But after his comments, Mr Adderley came under pressure from the National Police Chiefs Council, which issued a press release saying: ‘The Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police has clarified his earlier statement about police checking people’s shopping, confirming that this will not happen.’
And last night his controversial remarks were met with a slapdown from Home Secretary Priti Patel.
She said the Government was ‘absolutely not’ considering more stringent lockdown restrictions after it was claimed that a number of police chiefs want tougher powers.
North Wales Police set up a Coronavirus checkpoint for drivers coming from England into North Wales today
Yorkshire Police stopped a car with a canoe on its roof rack before escorting it back to the motorway
Despite surfing been banned in Italy, Spain and France the water sport hasn’t been explicitly restricted in the UK. Pictured: Newquay, Cornwall