Police checkpoint in Clive resulted in a lot of cars being turned back for non-essential travel. Photo / Ian Cooper
Police checkpoint in Clive resulted in a lot of cars being turned back for non-essential travel. Photo / Ian Cooper
Hawke's Bay police say locals are "blatantly disregarding" Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, and warn enforcement action will be taken.
Senior Constable Andy Clinton said the behaviour of residents during the current lockdown was "pretty disappointing".
"It's not that flash, to be honest, and it's getting to the stage where we willhave to take enforcement action if people continue on this path," he said.
"There is no real social distancing being observed, people are not keeping within their bubbles, and they are not staying in their area."
He gave several examples, including the worst one in Taradale, since lockdown began.
"We broke up a party in Taradale on Sunday. There were 12 to 13 people involved in the party, they knew about the pandemic, they knew the rules, but they blatantly disregarded them," Clinton said.
"They were educated around the rules, but that is all we can do at this point in time. A warning was given to the house owner that if they continued enforcement action would follow.
"We have also caught people travelling between areas. We stopped someone who drove from Hastings to Napier just to walk along the beach.
"People are going out of their area when really there is no need to. Like a man who went from Napier to Hastings to get to a supermarket, and he lived in Clive.
"We understand that people can get cabin fever, but rules are rules."
People need to stick to their homes, instead of travelling warn police. Photo / Ian Cooper
He also talked about a business that was found flaunting the rules.
"They had been breaching all the rules- none of the staff members were wearing masks, no customers were wearing masks. And they were dealing with food products."
He said checkpoints had been set up this lockdown week in Bayview and Clive.
"The sheer volume of traffic on the roads is more than previous lockdown, and I believe it's just because people, this time around, are not bothering with the rules as much.
"In Bayview we asked approximately 10 cars to turn back, and in Clive, on Sunday, we asked approximately 13 cars to turn back."
He urged people to take the rules seriously and ensure not only their own safety but the safety of others.
"We are nearly a week into lockdown, people need to do better."
Dairies around the region, deemed an essential service, also had to contend with people disobeying rules in the first few days of lockdown.
Mahia policeman Constable Chad Prentice earlier said he had turned away two vehicles that had driven close to 500km from Wellington and more than a dozen others from places such as Hamilton, Gisborne and Napier.
"It's people coming to Mahia and treating it as a holiday. They're coming here to park up in the campers because they think it's out of the way, or they're coming here to go fishing," he said.
"It's just about adhering to the current pandemic [rules]. If we all adhere to it, then we all get to benefit from it earlier as opposed to it dragging out."
Frimley Four Square staff member Sarabjit Singh said he was racially abused for asking a customer to wear a mask on the first day of lockdown.
"People get aggressive, the first day I told a customer to wear a mask they said 'go back to your country and teach them to wear a mask'," and hurled abuse at him.
"We are providing masks for those that come in without one. The first two days of lockdown were bad with people not complying, but it's better now."
Joll Road Dairy owner Jarnail Singh echoed the sentiment, but said generally people were good at wearing a mask.
"It's not just our safety, it's their safety too."
