The NSW Police Force has evolved its COVID operational response from compliance to enforcement, with more than 100 Penalty Infringement Notices (PINs) issued in a 24-hour period over the weekend (10-11 July).
Commissioner of NSW Police, Mick Fuller said police had changed their operational response as the number of community transmissions of COVID-19 continued to increase and spread across the Greater Sydney area.
“The community continues to be a source of information to assist police with their operational response to the evolving COVID crisis,” Commissioner Fuller said.
“Since March last year, we have had around 40,000 calls to Crime Stoppers for people being concerned about COVID behaviour, which includes 3,000 calls the past weekend,” he said.
“I think it is a stark reminder that most of the community gets the issue; they get the health orders and the significance of them.”
Commissioner Fuller said that while Fairfield was an area of concern, police were also looking at other areas across Sydney, including Bondi and Sutherland.
“While we have seen an improvement in the behaviour of people across NSW, particularly in terms of wearing masks and the other health orders, we ask the community continue to work with us over the coming weeks,” he said.
State Emergency Operations Controller and Deputy Commissioner of NSW Police, Gary Worboys said the geography of the major high-visibility police operation would expand in line with the spread of cases across Sydney.
Deputy Commissioner Worboys said, based on the accounts of police on the ground, there were high levels of compliance across Sydney’s south-west, “which is promising for reducing the risk of contracting COVID in those areas”.
Minister for Police and Emergency Services, David Elliott said the only chance the people of NSW had of dealing with the latest COVID-19 outbreak was if everyone came together to abide by the public health orders to limit the spread of the Delta variant.
