SUSSEX Police have issued more than 2,500 fines for breaches of coronavirus regulations.

The figures were revealed as Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne quizzed Chief Constable Jo Shiner on the policing response to the lockdown.

Mrs Bourne also asked Chief Con Shiner if she wished to comment on a recent incident when off-duty police officers were allegedly found to be breaching lockdown rules at a house party in Hove.

The incident, which is being investigated by the force’s professional standards department, was on the evening of Saturday, May 15, two days before people were allowed inside each other’s houses.

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Chief Con Shiner told the performance and accountability meeting: “It is an ongoing case and it would be unfair on those officers or anybody else for me to make a comment about that.

“What I would say is, as chief constable I absolutely expect the highest standards of behaviour and professionalism from all of those who work for Sussex Police.”

She said Sussex Police had, as of June 7, issued 2,725 fixed penalty notices for breaches of coronavirus regulations.

She said: “I think that reflects the very proportionate response we have taken, following the four Es approach (engage, explain, encourage and enforce) and making sure we are trying to support communities and local businesses, understanding the frustration and challenges that others are experiencing around this, while also making sure that we do protect lives and enforce regulations where necessary.

“That’s where we are. We have the scrutiny around it and in fact since June 7 we have only had one fine. That was the £10,000 fine for an offence which is still going through the courts but we will be able to speak about in future.”

She said Sussex Police had incurred just over £8.5 million additional costs in policing the pandemic and lockdown restrictions. Some £7 million of this had been reimbursed by the government so far. 

She said demand for more normal policing has now largely returned to pre-lockdown levels, but said the force was prepared for this.

The meeting also discussed reports of antisocial behaviour within Sussex.

While overall crime fell during the lockdowns, Sussex Police reported a sharp rise in offences which come under the umbrella of antisocial behaviour within the last year.

Mrs Bourne said there had been more than 57,000 antisocial behaviour incidents reported in Sussex in 2020/21 – a 75 per cent increase on the previous year.

Asked if there was a link to the pandemic, temporary Assistant Chief Constable Jayne Dando said: “The global pandemic has had a significant impact on the increase in recorded antisocial behaviour. Just to touch on figures, almost 18,500 incidents over this year were linked to the pandemic, which is a staggering number.

“The biggest group of those were rowdy nuisance neighbours. Now a lot of us were working from home during lockdown, a lot of us were focused around our homes because we couldn’t go anywhere else.

“So it may be that you didn’t realise that your neighbours were extremely noisy and a real nuisance to you, but when you are working from home that becomes more of a factor.”