Tassie cops forced to quarantine after dramatic arrest

UPDATED: Five police officers were forced off the beat and into quarantine after an arrest led to an alleged offender being tested for COVID-19.

FIVE police officers in Tasmania’s North-West were temporarily taken off the beat and into quarantine after a dramatic arrest led to an alleged offender being tested for COVID-19.

The incident in Devonport on Thursday night occurred after a motorist was pulled over and officers attempted to initiate an oral fluid drug test, the state’s police union said.

Police Association of Tasmania president Colin Riley said the driver tried to escape and five officers were involved in the man’s arrest.

Mr Riley said the man told police he believed he had coronavirus and the officers were put into self-isolation.

The man was tested, but has returned a negative result.

“A number of police officers in Devonport took precautionary self-isolation measures [on Thursday night] after they had arrested a person who claimed to have COVID-19 symptoms,” Tasmania Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Jonathan Higgins said.

“The person was subsequently tested, and a negative result was returned this afternoon.”

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Mr Riley said 11 officers in Tasmania have had to self-isolate or go into quarantine in the past seven days.

“It’s a significant issue when you look at the size of the workforce,” he said.

“The general public are doing the right things, but we deal with a group of people and they don’t listen, they don’t comply with social distancing.”

Mr Riley said with more police being used to ensure compliance with quarantine, it put officers at risk.

He called for greater provisions of personal protective equipment and priority testing of officers for COVID-19.

“In the environment we’re working in at the moment, you don’t see police wearing PPE when interacting with the public but if we get any more of these types of incidents, that’s something we will have to explore,” he said.

“They interacted with this person, he resisted and tried to escape, that meant they had to go hands on with him and have close contact. It’s problematic.”

Inspector Steve Jones confirmed a number of officers were in self-isolation after contact with a person who allegedly had coronavirus.