Last week we marvelled at the British public, often reserved yet always showing their thanks for the big moments, come out for a huge round of applause for the amazing nurses, doctors, ambulance staff and indeed all the staff of the NHS. I would include social care staff too who are doing an amazing job.

You will have felt some of that love in the rainbow pictures, sandwiches and thanks from the public we have received too. We need to keep that love coming as we have some tough weeks ahead. Thank you for this card from Joshua on behalf of St Edmund Campion.

I say this because last week we set about encouraging people to follow guidance and enforcing some the most restrictive laws we have seen in our nation. We are doing this because of an emergency and our need to save lives and protect the NHS by stopping the infection rate. The purpose is more important that the powers.

You will have noticed the powers don’t quite cover all the government’s advice. The government has issued quite a lot of advice on social...

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I don’t think I fully realised last week what a privilege it actually is to have to physically go to work – I get to ride 10miles there, get out of my home for a bit, see other people outside my family and then ride back again in the fresh air.  I’m now on my fourth rest day (of four) and very much itching to get out on my bike for a quick lap of the lanes; and perversely looking forward to my 4:30am alarm call to get out of the house again and off to work.  Mrs B and Master B are working / schooling from home and I can see the restrictions taking effect on them in small ways.  I’m also conscious of my elderly mother living on her own in the North-East who is pretty much locked in and being supplied by others, as required.

So what does the law say (on Monday 30th March! – because it may change later if tougher restrictions are brought in, as may be considered potentially necessary).  There are various reasons I’ve decided to write-this, but all of them rotate around the frustration of misinformation and...

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At each stage of my messages to you I have tried to ensure we prepare for the next stage.

As events have shown this is moving quickly. Events in Italy feel more proximate. More people will be ill and more are going to die. This is going to be the toughest moment of our careers in policing.

So where are we?

An increasing proportion of the force is self-isolating or confined to home with underlying conditions. Some have sick family. We will be offering more guidance on asthma and diabetes as staff only need to be at home in serious cases. We have seen the NHS advice for staff in direct contact with COVID19 so some people with mild asthma and diabetes will be as safe as the rest of us at work.

The workplace is looking more controlled with new tidy habits. Keep it clean. Look after PPE. As you can see this is precious.

The major incident structures are up and running. We have done some refocusing on services and there will be more of this. Our absence levels will grow when more...

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Last week, I published a post about the temporary amendments to the Mental Health Act 1983 which will be brought in by the Coronavirus Bill 2020, if passed ‘as is’.  That Bill goes before Parliament today, to commence its process towards becoming law and it may or may not change as the process unfolds.  Me being me(!), I was a bit curious about the other health related implications for the police service so I kept reading beyond the Mental Health Act amendment stuff and this post summarises the police related powers in Schedule 20 of the Bill as they relate to ‘infectious persons’.  If you want to read this for yourself, open the draft Bill and go to Schedule 20 on p215 – I will warn you now(!), it’s quite a dense read, hence I thought I’d try to summarise the main aspects of it.

You may quite reasonably wonder what this has to do with policing and mental health?! … potentially nothing at all and I’m conscious of straying outside my domain of interest – this is legislation related to so-called ‘physical’...

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A great deal has happened since my last message. I think a great deal more may happen and I want to use this blog to prepare ourselves.

To recap:

I cannot emphasise enough on the need for workplace hygiene. Washing hands properly, every two hours. Clean desks and workspaces. I have asked Commanders and Heads of Department to do captain’s rounds! If you do not have cleaning materials, tell them. This is everyone’s job.

PPE has been issued. We have good stocks compared to other sectors but we cannot be sure when we can replenish. You must use gel, gloves and face masks wisely. Keep clothing and vehicles clean.

We are tracking staff who are off work through sickness, self-isolation or social distancing. The numbers have increased. Occupational Health can advise on whether staff fall into these criteria. If you do you MUST go home and social distance. It is not a choice. Leaders can take advice from Occupational Health as conditions such as asthma can be very wide and not everyone falls into this group.

Our...

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