Care for your neighbours but don’t ask me to spy on them – Jayne Dowle

Be honest. Could you really bring yourself to snitch on the people next door if you spotted them flouting any of the social distancing measures that the Government has put in place for our communal protection?

Apparently, the police are being inundated with calls from members of the public reporting their neighbours for allegedly violating coronavirus lockdown rules. Police officers have been given powers to fine people up to £1,000 for breaking public health regulations and make arrests if necessary.

Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), says calls to 101, the non-emergency police line, have soared. Also, Humberside has become the first UK police force to create a dedicated online ‘portal’ where people can submit written tip-offs if they spot gatherings of more than two people.

It’s one thing to report a gang of youths tearing around a field on motorbikes, seemingly oblivious to the fact that a global pandemic is going on around them. I would be straight on the phone or keyboard if that happened near us, coronavirus lockdown or not.

However, it’s quite another to jump to attention because the bloke three doors down is going for a jog twice every day. Perhaps he’s trying to get out of the house as much as possible because he has three children and one television. Perhaps his wife is standing by the front door with his trainers in her hand.

I won’t be reporting anyone who shares my postcode. ‘Informing’ smacks of totalitarian regimes, both real and fictional. And I’m busy enough thank you, attempting to keep everyone fed and calm, to worry about what next-door are doing.

Also, this lockdown period is creating enough social divisions and pure nastiness without anyone adding to the load. When my husband took our own dog out the other day, he happened upon a fellow tradesman also laid off from work. This chap told him that he had been harangued by passers-by because he was asked by family friends to fix their rain-deluged guttering urgently.

I’ve also heard of nurses in uniform being spat at and their cars vandalised for parking in certain roads near hospitals. I even heard of people sent home on full pay bragging on social media and belittling those forced to seek Universal Credit.

When we all should be pulling together, there’s a nasty sense of self-righteous ‘me-first’ infecting society; why else would so many people have stockpiled food, only to throw it away?

As I’ve said before, we’re all looking for someone to blame for our frustration at normal life coming to a halt. It’s easy to turn on those nearest to us. The individual who spends the long hours of lockdown clocking their neighbours’ movements may argue they are doing their public duty. However, unless there’s a full-on barbecue party going on under their noses, I’d suggest they volunteer their empty hours towards manning a helpline or support group instead.

If I told on my neighbours, I couldn’t live with myself afterwards. Everything we do now will resonate for years to come. I’m a strong believer in karma; what goes around, comes around. And also, that old Sunday school homily, roughly translated as ‘treat others as you would like to be treated yourself’. Especially in a queue, when instinct may not always be kind.

Anyway, we’re fortunate in that our neighbours are good people; a retired couple and their son, who works as a printer for our local newspaper, on one side. Most days we have a quick catch-up through the fence, nothing has changed there during lockdown.

On the other side we have a family of cheerful veterinarians who wave every morning as they go off to provide emergency services for animals. Over the back, there’s an elderly couple with devoted sons who leave shopping on the step, and a council maintenance man and his partner, a mental health advocate, both essential workers.

We chatted with them the other evening as they passed our house on a run, observing correct social distancing rules of course. Michelle (I’ve changed her name for confidentiality) told me that that mental health services are already completely over-stretched.

The day before, she had to rescue an elderly man with multiple issues from his filthy house. He was in a terrible state, she said, and was being taken to hospital to be tested for Covid-19. She shook her head sadly and said tragic though this was, he will be the first of many.

If you have time on your hands to take an abiding interest in neighbourhood affairs, perhaps your attention would be better directed towards keeping an eye out for the most vulnerable members of the community, instead of clocking number plates and dog walks. I’m sure your conscience will thank you for it later.

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James Mitchinson

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