PC Jonathan Dunbar (left) and PS Alvaro Aracena-Fuentes

POLICE who face the job of enforcing the coronavirus lockdown say they feel more determined than ever to protect the NHS, but admit “nobody knows” if the current level of policing can be sustained should the same restrictions stay in place throughout the summer.

Dedicated cells have been set aside in custody suites across the city for any suspects who are arrested with virus symptoms, but even routine tasks like interviews can take hours longer than normal with solicitors refusing to represent clients in person at police stations.

Officers have been tasked with maintaining social distancing where they can, an order made difficult by the nature of their jobs when they need to make an arrest.

Police Sergeant Alvaro Aracena-Fuentes and PC Jonathan Dunbar of Camden’s Safer Neighbourhoods Team, based at an office in Greenland Road, spoke candidly about the impact the pandemic has had on the job, as the New Journal observed them on patrol over the Easter weekend. Their patch includes Primrose Hill, where police said too many people gathered in the warm weather last weekend.

PS Aracena-Fuentes said: “We’re just taking every day as it comes and carrying on doing our job which is to fight crime, and now to police the lockdown.

Quieter: Primrose Hill on Saturday 

“We know what’s expected of us and we just get on with it. We know people want to come out, they want the sun, we’re not robots we get it. But we have to protect the NHS – they’re the ones with the real demon to fight at the moment.”

He added: “It is a change, we’re learning every day including what paperwork we need to do and how to go about protecting the public and ourselves during the crisis.”

The sergeant said that while other areas had officers off because they are ill or isolating, at the moment the team based in Greenland Road was at full capacity. Asked if he thought the team could maintain the level of policing if the lockdown lasts all summer, perhaps all year, he said: “Nobody knows.”

“It’s too hard to say,” he added. “We’re being told we could reach the peak by next week and who knows, it could wipe out whole teams or it might not be as bad. We just don’t know.”

“What I do know is we’re very good officers with very good training and an abundance of common sense and Covid-19 is just an added layer of something else that we have to work around.

“Police officers in London are well versed at working in extreme situations, the 7/7 bombing for example. I worked through the riots and you had people sleeping in cars because they had rest days cancelled. 

“So some of us have camp beds and sleeping bags in the station and there are hotels who have contacted the Met Police to say they would have officers and NHS staff free of charge if needed. 

“We may need to use them if things get much worse but obviously nobody knows so it’s just better if we prepare ourselves.”

Camden High Street

Today (Monday), the UK had recorded over 10,612 hospital deaths related to Covid-19 although the true figure is likely to be much higher and will only be revealed as death certificates are published.

The country has the fifth-highest death toll in the world and experts believe the number of cases should reach its peak sometime in the next few weeks if people stick to the social distancing guidelines.

PS Aracena-Fuentes said: “It has changed the way we work but when you’re out there dealing with the real thing it can be tricky. We will try to maintain social distancing but we have to search people. When we arrest someone we always handcuff from behind and if they’re coughing we try and help then maybe take them to a hospital.”

The team is still executing warrants and arresting criminals and even as we talk news filters into PS Aracena-Fuentes about a man who was meant to be fitted with a tag but has refused to let officers inside his home where he says he is isolating with his father who he claims has Covic-19.

On other occasions, he says officers have carried out raids to find everyone inside coughing in the hope they will not be approached.

“They could be lying but, they might not be so we still have to take every precaution,” said PS Aracena-Fuentes. “On a personal level, it is worrying. I’ve got a family and kids so I worry about taking it home to them.”

The majority of an officer’s shift is not spent arresting criminal after criminal, however. Currently, it is out on patrol talking to ordinary members of the public who are breaching the lockdown rules. This means their safety is very much dependent on how many choose to stay home.

And it appears the message is getting through.

Out on patrol, there was a marked difference between the Easter weekend and a week before when PC Dunbar took a photo of Primrose Hill teeming with sunbathers and picnickers.

A tweet from the officer expressing his “disappointment” after spending the day walking briskly up and down the park to clear the grass of those determined to make the most of the sunshine went viral after first appearing in the New Journal.

He seemed pleased to see the message was finally getting through, adding: “We have seen a decline of people sitting in the parks, people are staying home more. I think with you guys in the media doing a great job of showing those individual stories of how it’s hitting home with families people are starting to realise actually that could very easily be my family.

“Most people after you have a chat with them realise themselves that they shouldn’t be out and in a lot of ways that’s more effective.”

PC Dunbar approached around a dozen people in the park all who were understanding and moved on when asked. 

Some people, such as an elderly man and local woman were taking short rest stops during their hour of daily exercise.

One man who had injured his arm the week before while out cycling was also taking a few moments on the grass. Others such as a younger man lying in the sun listening to music just needed reminding he had to be out exercising or go home.

But, while the park looked deserted in comparison to the scenes normally seen on a hot bank holiday weekend, it still took an almost constant stream of officers to move on dozens of people who were out, sometimes unknowingly breaking the rules.

As we entered the park it was easy to see a concentration of people at the top of the hill, which turned out to be groups of strangers and friends gathered in the small space. 

Most dispersed when they saw the police van but some hung around for a moment, one woman who was not in gym wear began stretching as if to pretend she was out on exercise, a move the officers had seen time and time again since the lockdown.

PS Aracena-Fuentes said: “It is tiring, to have to tell people constantly to move on only for more people to come straight after them. We have people tell us they’re exercising but they’re not in the appropriate gear, or start doing lunges in jeans when they see us.”

Leaving the park, we found members of two households who had taken over the picnic benches outside their local pub which has been boarded up for the lockdown.

“I’m not sure everyone gets it at the moment,” said  PS Aracena-Fuentes. “I guess it’s one thing watching the news and seeing what’s going on in other countries but because we haven’t reached that peak here and people haven’t been in the hospitals they don’t really realise how bad it is.”

He says the stories they are hearing from their ambulance service colleagues are far from positive.

Crime has fallen significantly while people are being forced to stay indoors. Officers say drug dealers are still operating in Camden, but the level of street dealing has gone down for the time being, as has violent crime.

The type of crime has also shifted. At the beginning of the lockdown, there was an increase in calls about people being followed from cash points or after leaving shops while carrying bags of groceries. After reports of attempts to steal people’s shopping, the team stepped up policing at the bottom of the high street where these incidents had happened.

The lockdown has brought about perhaps a more unexpected and positive shift in neighbourhood policing. With people working or staying at home local officers are coming into contact a lot more with the residents they work each day to protect. 

PC Dunbar said: “We’re out on our normal patrols and we see people in their gardens and we have a joke with them and they can’t get over how many times they have seen us but we’re not doing anything differently except they’re at home now.

“I really love that we’re making more connections with people, and I want to maintain those relationships long after the lockdown because there’s nothing better than when communities want to help you fight crime.”