NORTHERN GRAMPIANS police have given out a number of fines to people not abiding by COVID-19 restrictions on movement, but only "for the most blatant breaches".
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Sergeant Sandra Marriner, of Stawell, said officers gave people warnings in the first instance.
She said no one in the area, resident or visitor, had received more than one penalty notice.
"There have been far more warnings than fines. Basically the majority (of infringements issued) are to people that are just in and out of their home all day," she said.
"We may have observed them leaving three or four times, and they are going to the shop to get something to eat, then had an hour later going to McDonalds to get ice cream and half hour later going to get fuel.
"Getting petrol is essential but you can get food at the same time. Every time you leave the house you come into contact with a number of different people.
"The other thing we have noticed is people are still driving cars around town at night time. They might be going to the service station to get something to eat that's not essential in the middle of the night.
"People are certainly not allowed to be groups of more than two if they don't come from same household."
Sergeant Marriner said there were "grey areas" and "contradictory information" in the media about what constituted essential activity, and that by and large residents were doing the right thing.
"On Good Friday we were quite vigilant in speaking to people in the Halls Gap area. The park is closed anyway," she said.
Ethan Schilling, of Horsham Police, said it was up to officers to decide whether to issue a warning or a penalty when they discovered a breach of guidelines.
On Sunday, Victoria Police conducted 1123 spot checks at homes, businesses and non-essential services across the state and issued 158 fines as part of Operation Sentinel. Since March 21, they have conducted 20,426 spot checks.
Police are not providing localised data breakdowns as part of the operation.
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