The Covid 19 pandemic has brought many challenges to our communities and the new laws on gatherings are another change we will all need to adapt to, writes Steve Jupp, Chief Constable of Suffolk Constabulary.

As a Constabulary we continue to work with our partners and the public to ensure this new legislation around gatherings of no more than six people is understood and adhered to.

Our focus will remain one of reassurance, looking to engage, explain and encouraging people to follow the new regulations. We will enforce only where necessary. Officers will always try to disperse people rather than use enforcement but they will act against those who choose to break the rules and disregard these measures, and put people’s lives at risk.

The demands on the force are now at similar levels to before the pandemic, which makes it crucially important that we all take personal responsibility, protect ourselves and others and help prevent the spread of this deadly virus.

We need to remember that anyone can spread it, the Public Health England and NHS advice is there for a reason - please continue to abide by the rules to help us all save lives.

Tragic events earlier this month in Kesgrave and Sudbury where we have had two major investigations (in Kesgrave the shooting of a teenage schoolboy, and in Sudbury the discovery of human bones in a river) have brought the value of reassurance into sharp focus for us all. 

As a police force we work hard to investigate, protect and reassure the public – we want to continue to make Suffolk a safer place in which to live, work, travel and invest. Working together with communities is extremely important and brings us all together as one. 

Often when such major incidents occur there is a massive impact on not only the public, but also all of the emergency services, especially those who have had to attend the scene, and I would like to place on record my thanks to the air ambulance who responded so quickly to the Kesgrave incident, the students, teachers and parents at the school, our partners, members of the public who have helped officers with enquiries, as well as my own staff and Special Constables, all of whom dedicate themselves to working so hard.

The Constabulary was delighted to announce the launch of the new countywide proactive Kestrel team last month – a dedicated team to tackle criminal threats and challenges that emerge in a particular local area.

They provide a key aspect to the force’s capability to address high-volume crimes, drug crime and associated anti-social behaviour. Where necessary, Kestrel will also assist and support in targeting local policing priorities and deal with the policing issues and concerns which matter most to local communities. The team consists of one sergeant and six police constables and will be a highly visible and uniformed team, deployable across the county to any location in support of local policing. Certainly, they were heavily involved in the above incidents, providing reassurance and a point of contact for members of the public.

So, as teachers and children return to school, businesses open, and staff return to work, the Constabulary looks ahead to the future, continually considering the best ways of preventing crime and supporting vulnerable people through avoiding exploitation and entering into varying degrees of criminality.

We work hard to become even more proactive to deny criminals opportunities and to ensure that those who we arrest we put before the courts.