At the time of writing, the coronavirus pandemic is reaching its peak in the UK.  In the years to come there are bound to be thousands of pages written about what went wrong, what went well and what could have been done better. No doubt, over time initial conclusions will change as more analysis is done and as we see longer term consequences of actions.

Here we highlight just one issue that has hit the news headlines and caused widespread debate.   

A Sky News headline stated:

“Coronavirus: Police backtrack after chief threatened to search shoppers’ trolleys”. 

The article by news reporter Richard Williams went on to explain that police had to reassure people that their trolleys would not be searched despite comments made by a Chief Constable about police needing to check whether items in trolleys were really necessary in order to ensure compliance.

Whatever your views on civil liberties, this raises a huge number of questions. What are essential items? It would be hugely laborious to list every item available in a shop and stipulate whether it is essential or not. Is ice cream essential if it keeps the children happy at a difficult time and protects the sanity of a mother?  Do you really need avocados to keep healthy? Then you have the question of whether police time could be better spent on another task. There are other questions, too.  Once someone has gone to the supermarket why does it matter if they buy non-essential items, providing social distancing is in place?  Perhaps it matters because they are keeping other people waiting in the queue outside? Perhaps it is because they are putting themselves in more danger by handling more items?  Then you come to the aftermath. What will the sight of police searching shopping trolleys mean for the relationship between the police and the public in the longer term?

There are lessons to be gained from this.   Understand what the problem is before you try to solve it.  Know what you are trying to achieve.   Consider whether your proposed action will have the desired effect. Ask whether there is a better way of achieving it. Consider whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? 

As it is impossible to set out rules for everything in a complex world it is sometimes a matter of judgement and common sense.