UK police hit back at coronavirus crime

LONDON: British police are cracking down on coronavirus-related crime after a spate of thefts and attacks on emergency workers involved in battling the outbreak.

A 23-year-old man was jailed for 12 months in Burnley, northwest England, for spitting at two officers after claiming he had COVID-19 on Saturday. Lancashire Police said it was “totally unacceptable that police and other frontline workers who are doing their best to keep our communities safe are treated like this”. In London, a 55-year-old man was jailed for six months on Wednesday for coughing on a police officer and threatening to infect him with COVID-19.

Meanwhile on Monday, a 35-year-old man was also sentenced to six months in jail for stealing personal protective equipment, including face masks, from an ambulance near a hospital. He also assaulted a security guard who challenged him, the Metropolitan Police said. Police have been given emergency powers to deal with people flouting strict government orders on social distancing to avoid the close-contact spread of the virus.

That has led to criticism of an over-zealous approach, particularly after one force used drones to monitor people walking in a national park who were deemed to be on “non-essential” business. But the latest incidents taken to court were classed under a specific law governing assaults on emergency workers, introduced in November 2018 with a maximum penalty of 12 months in jail. Elsewhere, in Kirkby, near Liverpool, police said face masks and gloves were stolen from a National Health Service van overnight Tuesday.