Cambridge Police have taken it upon themselves to decide what counts as essential aisles at Tesco

A day after a police force threatened to snoop through people’s shopping baskets, officers elsewhere have taken it upon themselves to decide what count as ‘non-essential aisles’ in supermarkets.

Police in Cambridge tweeted a picture outside Tesco Barhill during their patrols of supermarkets and green spaces. They said: ‘Good to see everyone was abiding by social distancing measures and the non essential aisles were empty’.

Cambridge Police’s tweet was met with anger with one person stating: ‘The law doesn’t forbid the purchase of non-essential items when also shopping for essentials such as food. Your officers time could be better spent, and over-stepping the law like this harms public confidence in the police.’



Yesterday a Downing Street spokesman said ‘shops that were open are free to sell anything in stock’.


Local MP Anthony Browne said: ‘Troubling you see such messages from @cambscops, who have so far shown common sense in maintaining order under social distancing. As long as social distancing is maintained, shoppers should not feel pressured away from any aisle. Will be raising this with Chief Constable’

Following the backlash, a statement was issued by the Twitter account that said: For clarification, the force position, in line with national guidance, is that we are not monitoring what people are buying from supermarkets.

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‘This message was sent with good intentions by an over exuberant officer who has been spoken to since this tweet was published.

‘Whilst the majority of people in our communities are abiding by the social distancing measures we have had to issue a small number of fines to those who are flouting the rules. None of these have been in relation to shopping or supermarket visits.’

Yesterday Nottinghamshire Police Chief Constable, Nick Adderley, came in for criticism after threatening that his force was ‘a few days away’ from looking in shopping trolleys to see what people had bought.

Police guidelines for coronavirus lockdown

Northamptonshire Police Chief Constable Nick Adderley has since said his use of language was ‘clumsy’ after being criticised for his remarks, including by Home Secretary Priti Patel who said they were ‘not appropriate’.

Another police force apologised after an officer told a dad that he could not play in his front garden with his children during the lockdown.

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Police outside Tesco in Cambridge where they have been patrolling supermarkets (Picture: Twitter)

Urging people to stay indoors, Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Nick Dean, said: ‘Our approach is to engage and encourage people to go home but if people still won’t comply we will act. Only five fines in the past 48 hours which shows the vast majority of people are taking this very seriously, thank you.’



He added: ‘Our message is clear, please continue to stay in and help us save lives.

‘We have already had a great response from communities in Cambridgeshire, who are doing their bit to stick to the lockdown restrictions and help us protect our precious NHS.

‘We will be out across the county over the weekend, ensuring people continue to comply. Where there are cases where people refuse, we will engage with those people and, if we have to, use the powers available to us.

‘People may not think it but by staying in they are really making a difference. This disease does not discriminate, we are all at risk and we have a responsibility to do everything we can to protect people.

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