“Increased visibility” of policing as new travel restrictions come into force

“You will see increased visibility across our force areas where we will be trying to help our communities do the right thing and protect themselves and others”.

That is the message from the four Welsh police forces as new travel restrictions are imposed from 6pm this evening on those travelling into Wales from “high risk” areas.

The new measures are focused on areas of low prevalence in Wales, with Welsh Government saying current ‘local lockdown’ areas or ‘local health protection areas’ are already covered, “due to the restrictions that are already in place on entering or leaving these areas”.

Under the new regulations people living in England’s Tier Two – ‘high’ alert level areas which include Chester and Cheshire West and Tier Three – ‘very’ high level – which includes the Liverpool City Region will be banned from travelling into Wales.

People living in the central belt of Scotland and this living in Northern Ireland will also be banned.

Speaking on behalf of the four Welsh Police Forces, Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Nigel Harrison, North Wales Police, said that it is “essential that people comply with the restrictions.”

He added: “As we move into a critical stage of the virus progression, policing across Wales will continue to support the Welsh Government to help limit the spread of the virus.

“We absolutely recognise the great strain on people and the sacrifices that we are all making to get through this difficult time.

“Throughout the pandemic we’ve worked closely with our partners to ensure that measures are in place to help communities and prevent the spread of COVID-19. This will continue as we respond to the current situation.

“You will see increased visibility across our force areas where we will be trying to help our communities do the right thing and protect themselves and others.

“Our focus continues to be to reassure, inform and engage with people – explaining the regulations and encouraging compliance. We all have a personal responsibility to comply to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our communities from this virus.

“However we are now at a time where we will robustly enforce the regulations where there are blatant breaches, we will not allow the selfish minority to risk the health of the vast majority who have sacrificed so much over the last few months.

“We intend to focus our activity on areas and behaviours that pose the greatest risk to our communities and we will be proactive in targeting those that are not sticking to the gathering rules, whether that be indoors or outdoors.

“People should not be travelling between the areas facing local restrictions without defined reasonable excuses. This will include those that travel from other parts of the UK with high transmission rates.

“If you live in Wales in a non-restricted area you must not leave Wales to travel to other areas of the UK with high transmission rates – again without a reasonable excuse.

“All the actions we take and the effort we put in will be focussed towards limiting the spread of the virus, helping us all protect our loved ones, our communities and our vital health service.

“The demand on North Wales Police has returned to pre-Covid level. And as a result, it is essential that people comply with the restrictions to reduce the number of breaches which officers have to respond to. We need people to recognise that wilfully flouting the guidance places unnecessary strain on already stretched resources.

“The weeks and months ahead will be difficult but we all need to work together to get the best result we can for our families.

“We all have a shared responsibility to protect the NHS, please use your common sense and help us together to protect our communities and save lives.”

Further details regarding the restrictions are available via the Welsh Government website Gov.Wales

Top pic: North Wales Police patrolling the A494 route into North Wales earlier this year.