Police say they aren't fining people found driving between health regions

Despite a handful of rumours circulating social media, police in the Lower Mainland say that they aren’t issuing fines to people caught driving between different health regions.

Cris Leykauf, spokesperson for the Delta Police Department, tells Daily Hive that their officers “are not doing this type of enforcement action.”

Additionally, Leykauf explains that such a fine isn’t allowed under the COVID-19 Related Measures Act.

“There is no provision within the COVID Related Measures Act for police to take this type of enforcement action,” she explains in an email.

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Tania Visintin, Vancouver Police Department Spokesperson, adds that the VPD hasn’t “issued any violation tickets in regards to people driving between cities.”

This isn’t the first time that police have had to dispel rumours surrounding different kinds of COVID-19 fines either. In late November, the Surrey RCMP stressed that fines weren’t being issued to people from different households travelling in the same vehicle.

Have you heard the rumours circulating that we’re issuing fines for people driving together if they’re not from the same address? False! Surrey RCMP have not issued any such tickets, nor is there a provision or authority to do so. pic.twitter.com/U2g8jd5ZV9

— Surrey RCMP (@SurreyRCMP) November 27, 2020

“A vehicle may have been stopped over for other reasons and the officer may have inquired if those individuals were in the same household and attempted to educate them,” Surrey RCMP Cpl. Joanie Sidhu told Daily Hive.

However, in the case of actually ticketing someone, Sidhu said “an officer has to have legal grounds and legal authority [to do so] in the first place.”