POLICE in Wrexham do not foresee any major issues when the fire-break lockdown comes into force in Wales at 6pm today.

Sgt Matt Subacchi of the Wrexham Neighbourhood Policing Team says that the team will be on hand to engage with and educate people about the new guidelines and will only use enforcement as a last resort.

He said that as people in Wrexham have been living under some form of coronavirus restrictions for most of the year they will continue to follow guidelines to protect themselves and others during the two-week lockdown.

Sgt Subacchi said: "I must stress we are looking to use enforcement as an absolute last resort, we would look to engage and educate before we would consider any type of enforcement.

"Nothing really changes for us, we just continue to make sure that we're out there, that we're approachable, and that we utilise our social media to share the work that we're doing. We will continue to engage with the public to help them be as safe as possible.

"We expect to see frustration from a minority of the public as there has been throughout the Covid era, but the majority of people adhere to the guidelines and do what they're supposed to do. We don't foresee any issues or any problems, and we will try and engage with the minority that do as best we can and only use enforcement if we have to."

"For the police its a two week short period, there is an end date in sight and no plans to extend that end date as far as we're aware of right now, and we don't foresee any increase in crime. People might be fed up, but that doesn't translate into criminal offences, we haven't seen that.

"We understand the frustration but its being done to protect people."

He added: "It's becoming almost business as usual. It's becoming normal for us now to adhere to some sort of guidelines. That is normal for us at the moment and has been for the majority of 2020.

Sgt Subacchi added that the main issue for Wrexham police, in relation to the lockdown, would be engaging with people travelling in from outside the area without a valid reason.

He said: "We have to control the people coming from out of Wrexham into Wrexham, that's a problem, and we will monitor the main roads and the quieter roads. That's something we have to monitor more and more during lockdowns."