The chief of police in Chatham-Kent is warning that the time for education is over when it comes to enforcing COVID-19 safety protocols.
Police Chief Gary Conn was very adamant on a weekly teleconference on Thursday, promising to crack down on those breaking the laws in place to prevent the spread of the virus. Conn said the vast majority of CK citizens have been compliant with the COVID-19 rules and only a handful of tickets have been issued over the past eight months. However, Conn said his officers will be taking a stricter approach from now on.
"The vast majority of interaction that we have had, police with our citizens, has been for educational purposes and predominantly warning. Now that being said I will add this, the time for education, it's over," said Chief Conn. "Going forward, certainly for the last month and certainly on a go-forward basis we will be taking a zero-tolerance approach to these offences."
Conn said people have had enough time now to get up to speed on the laws.
"People have had eight months to get educated and learn the laws and govern themselves accordingly," the chief said.
The chief also said there's a plan in place to deal with a rally and march at Tecumseh Park on Saturday at noon to protest COVID-19 restrictions. He failed to disclose details of the plan because he didn't want to compromise the safety of his officers but said it is very similar to plans used in other areas and hopes the protest is peaceful like most have been elsewhere.