Rate of coronavirus infections continues to fall, but number of fines issued by police for breaching orders is increasing

This article is more than 5 months old

This article is more than 5 months old

A woman in Victoria says she was left feeling “heartbroken” and like a criminal after uniformed police officers carrying weapons interrupted her father’s funeral over the Easter long weekend to enforce social distancing rules.

It comes as state police forces rapidly escalate the number of people fined for breaching public health orders despite falling infection rates, and amid concerns from law and justice experts the laws are being inconsistently and arbitrarily enforced.

Helen Kolovos, who buried her father on Saturday, says she was “inconsolable” after two police officers entered the church and began counting the number of people attending the funeral as her father’s coffin was carried down the aisle.

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Funerals have been strictly limited to 10 guests since March, part of the government’s strict social distancing measures introduced to slow the spread of Covid-19 in Australia.

“Being from a Greek family it was already mission impossible to do that, but we did, we literally had to pick and choose our own family and say you can come, you can’t come,” Kolovos told the Guardian.

It was just totally disrespectful, to carry a gun in a Greek church, it’s totally against our religion Helen Kolovos

Despite living in the same house, Kolovos and her family sat in separate pews during the service. Then, at the end of the service, two police officers entered the church as her father’s coffin was being carried out.

“To see the police come in at that moment, it broke my heart into a million pieces,” Kolovos said.

“It was just totally disrespectful, to carry a gun in a Greek church, it’s totally against our religion. But the way they came in, they didn’t bow their heads or anything. They just started speaking to some of the people who were working in the church and taking notes as we’re carrying out my dad.

“Just pause what you’re doing for one moment, bow your head, just give that man a little shred of respect. I was inconsolable. That whole moment of farewelling my dad, that moment was taken away from me.”

Since March a string of public health orders issued by health ministers have re-shaped Australian life, giving police unprecedented power to control almost all aspects of everyday movement.

In most states officers now have the power to fine or arrest people caught gathering in groups of more than two, or for being outside of their homes without a “reasonable excuse”.

And yet as the rate of infection from Covid-19 in Australia continues to fall, the number of fines issued by police has rapidly increased. By 5 April, Victoria Police had issued 199 fines for breaches of the orders. In the eight days since, they’ve issued another 931. In the same period the state recorded only 146 new Covid-19 cases.

In New South Wales, police have fined 464 people and issued 57 court attendance notices for breaches of public health orders since 17 March. On Monday the NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller said more than 155 of those had been issued over the Easter long weekend.

“I don’t expect those numbers will continue,” he said. “But this is an example that some people just aren’t listening to the warnings.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest NSW police issued 155 breaches of public health orders over the Easter weekend. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Governments say the measures are necessary to control the spread of Covid-19, and that officers use “common sense” in enforcing the restrictions but a Guardian callout for readers’ examples of police interactions found dozens of examples of inconsistent, heavy-handed or over-the-top policing.

Last week, George Tomo drove a few kilometres from his home in Wollongong, south of Sydney, to Port Kembla where the infamous Ruby Princess cruise ship was docked. Two weeks ago he lost his job installing lifts, making the 39-year-old one of the hundreds of thousands of Australians to find themselves newly unemployed in the wake of Covid-19. After days spent staring at his computer screen and applying for jobs, he’d left the house to buy a coffee and smoke a cigarette.

“It was just for a bit of sanity” Tomo told the Guardian.

“I’ve been trying to do the right thing. I don’t go outside, I don’t go visiting people. But I’m losing my mind in here. I’ve been working since I was 14. It’s the first time I’ve been laid-off and it’s hard sitting at home.”

As he sat in his car smoking and looking out at the cruise ship and the locals fishing from the harbour, Tomo was approached by a police officer who asked him why he was there.

“I told him the truth. I said I was here to enjoy the view and see the boat while I had my coffee but I have no intention of leaving my car,” he said.

Tomo was told he would be fined $1,000 for not having a valid reason for being outside of his home.

“His exact words to me were, ‘if you want to keep doing this, it’s a good way to get poor’,” he said.

“I don’t want to cause a scene or argue with the police because who knows what could happen. I copped it sweet but I was really upset. I’ve never broken the law in my life. He could have easily just told me to go home and I would have. I’ve just lost my job, I’m trying to pay a mortgage, it’s the last thing I need.”

NSW police later said Tomo had been issued with a warning, but no fine was processed.

In other cases, police appear to have used unnecessary force or to have issued heavy fines in cases where there were concerns for the person’s welfare.

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On Saturday, police fined two men in Condell Park in south-west Sydney who were spotted “eating pizza” in a car. On Monday, News Corp reported video footage which showed 10 officers at the scene. One of the men was in handcuffs.

On the same day in Newcastle, a 47-year-old became one of the first to be hit by a new law which allows police to issue a $5,000 fine to people who spit at healthcare workers.

Police had been called after the woman was seen exposing herself to a light rail vehicle. When they arrived, officers called paramedics because they were “concerned for her welfare”. When she was being placed onto a gurney, she spat at a paramedic.

Sydney lawyer Peter O’Brien, who specialises in civil cases against police, said the broad discretion the orders gave officers meant their enforcement was “arbitrary”.

“Reasonable minds may differ very significantly on what a ‘reasonable excuse’ is and when you’re leaving it to young police officers on the beat to decide what’s reasonable it is almost going to be arbitrary in the way it’s going to be applied,” he said.

“These laws are going to manifest in the same way as all police powers tend to: in a concentration of the use of power against the already vulnerable, the mentally ill, the people who are already over-policed.”

Do you know more? Contact michael.mcgowan@theguardian.com