Read on Twitter
The Durham Police statement pretty much exactly as I predicted in @thetimes https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/durham-police-investigate-dominic-cummings-case-at-highest-levels-xsqltgtfh https://twitter.com/jonwalker121/status/1265979637210939392
This is another important point - if they are not taking retrospective action in respect of members of the public generally, they should treat Cummings the same. I think they *could* in theory give a retrospective fine (regs dont seem to prevent that) https://twitter.com/jonwalker121/status/1265980065474662401?s=20
Here is an interesting point which will I imagine please @SeethingMead - the police are focussing on these being public health powers so are taking into account the public health risk of his actions - I think that's right... https://twitter.com/jonwalker121/status/1265979693704065030?s=20
... but it is different to 'ordinary' policing and does add to the complication. I wrote about this in The Telegraph on why policing the coronavirus crisis is basically impossible (or at least almost impossible) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/10/policing-coronavirus-lockdown-impossible-task-will-lead-wrongful/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw
And as much as will frustrate people (perhaps due to politics as much as principle) that police are generally not prosecuting reports of older breaches, I think from a 'preserving social fabric' perspective this is not a bad thing. Wrote about that re encouraging public report..
