ACT Policing are working with the ACT Government to monitor mandatory quarantine orders, following reported active cases of COVID-19 in the ACT this week.
Border restrictions came into effect from midnight Wednesday (9 July), requiring any person travelling to the ACT from Victoria to hold an exemption permit and undertake a mandatory 14-day self-isolation period.
Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan said today (Friday 10 July) that 60 spot checks had already taken place across 25 locations, a number he expected to increase in the coming days.
“For people in quarantine and self-isolation, if you haven’t actually had a visit yet from ACT Policing, you will in the next coming days,” he said.
“By close of business this afternoon, ACT Policing will have gained access to Services NSW database, basically what that means is we will have a record of every person who has entered NSW from Victoria, and we will have the ability, including their registration numbers and addresses, to check them up.”
The border restrictions came into effect following the recent spike of cases in Melbourne, as hotspots in the area have been put into a strict lockdown.
CPO Gaughan said from the spot checks, only two people had to be “reminded of their responsibilities” when they were found “outside their hotel room”.
“The time for reminding of responsibilities is probably over, we still haven’t issued an infringement in the Territory,” he said.
“If we have the same people that we have to remind, they will be issued with an infringement. We don’t want to be heavy handed; we want to be fair.”
Police in regional Victoria have started using number plate scanning technology to monitor cars travelling in their areas that are linked back to identified hot spots.
An ACT Policing spokesperson said they were confident the NSW Police were monitoring all travellers and exemption permits on the Victorian border.
“Within the ACT, any vehicle on a public road can be stopped by police for a number of reasons,” they said.
“NSW Police is managing closures at the Victorian and NSW border and will require an exemption permit to be produced before a person can directly transit through NSW to the ACT, from Victoria.”
