KAWARTHA LAKES-The Government of Ontario announced new restrictions, including a two-week extension of the current province-wide stay-at-home order, and additional measures to curb the spread of Coronavirus today.
New enhanced enforcement measures for police were also announced, under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMPCA) including the right to arbitrarily stop members of the public who have left their home. Under the new regulations police would be able question residents about their reasons for leaving home and lay fines of up to $750 is they don’t find your reason essential.
The Peterborough Police Service released a statement late Friday night saying they would not be stopping people randomly. The statement read in part:
“The Peterborough Police Service is reviewing the new regulations. Although these new enforcement measures have been given, Peterborough Police will continue to be complaints-driven in our response to the increased public health measures, that means we will not be randomly stopping people.
Great care will be taken to ensure there is no misuse or perceived misuse of any enforcement measures as the trust of our communities is of the utmost importance and a pillar of the community policing model. Â We remain committed to ensuring our police officers and personnel work in a transparent and accountable manner whenever they interact with residents during these trying times.
It’s also vital that we take this pandemic seriously and do what is needed – stay home and practice public health guidelines. We thank our members for serving their community and thank you, the residents, for doing what you can, for staying home so we can get through these challenging times together.”
The OPP has stated they will be actively enforcing the stay-at-home order. There’s no word from Kawartha Lakes Police.
