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AMHERST, N.S. – Amherst Police have laid their first charge under the Health Protection Act.

Police were called to a residence in the town early Sunday morning where a house party was taking place.

An adult male was charged under Section 71 1(b) and issued a ticket. The maximum fine is $1,000 for individuals and $7,500 for businesses.

“We had an incident the other night where we had a complaint of a loud party and a charge was laid against one individual,” Chief Dwayne Pike said.

Pike said officers were at first educating people about the restrictions put in place by the provincial government to limit social gathering. Now, it is issuing charges and it’s not just for get togethers such as parties, but also trespassing on closed parks in the community.

It’s not something officers want to do, but the chief said it’s about protecting the community.

“It’s not something we enjoy, but it’s something we have to do,” the chief said.

To date, he added, there have been few issues, although they have been getting calls from people to report others for not self-isolating upon returning to the province from elsewhere.

Two weeks ago, police announced a number of precautions for its officers including eliminating front counter and reception services until further notice and asking people to call the department at 902-667-8600 or 911, if there’s an emergency.

It has also closed publish access to the community room and non-essential services, such as criminal record checks and licensing renewals for taxi licence holders are temporarily suspended.

Pike said the public has been co-operative.

“These measures are to protect our officers and to protect our staff, but it’s also to protect members of the public community. It’s all those people who could be impacted by the interactions of two people,” Pike said. “People are understanding and co-operative, they’re respecting social distancing and they understand if we’re doing things like taking statements by phone or email. We’re using technology that’s available to us.”

Town buildings, including the stadium, town hall, the Four Fathers Memorial Library and the town garage on Park Street, as well as all parks, are closed until further notice.