Police Scotland Use of FPNs During the Pandemic

Public opinion surveys conducted during the course of the pandemic found that members of the public in Scotland were overwhelmingly compliant with the new Regulations, especially during the initial lockdown period.

To deal with those who failed to comply with the Regulations, Police Scotland followed the ‘4Es’ approach (i.e. Engagement, Explanation, Encouragement and Enforcement) with the fourth E focusing mainly on those who committed flagrant or repeated breaches.

During the first lockdown period (23 March 2020), a total of 44,296 interventions with the public were recorded by police officers, of which only 7.2% involved issuing an FPN. 

Police use of FPNs rose sharply during the first three weeks of the pandemic and peaked in early April, but then declined gradually over time as shown in the chart below. 

Spikes in police use of FPNs tended to coincide with good weather, public holidays and weekends, and announcements relating to the easing of restrictions.

There were 4,327 FPN tickets issued to 3,786 individuals, which represents less than 0.1% of the Scottish population. 

According to a National Police Chiefs Council report, six fines were issued for every 10,000 people in Scotland and Wales during this period compared to three per 10,000 in England. However, the value of fines was three times higher in England which may have increased the threshold of officer decision making.