Top cop outlines his COVID-19 policing approach (which is VERY popular with listeners)

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has warned police are taking a “very hard approach with very little leniency” to enforcing COVID-19 rules.

It comes after police issued fines to 161 people caught breaching the Chief Health Officer’s directions yesterday.

But Mr Patton says there will be “a common sense attitude” taken for the first few days of the new permitted worker permit system.

From 11.59pm tonight, workers in Melbourne who are permitted to travel for work must carry the permit with them.

The top cop’s hard-line approach has proven popular.

In a 3AW Breakfast poll asking: ‘Do you want police to be tough for the next six weeks?’, 98 per cent of people said ‘Yes’.

Mr Patton, who recently took on the top job, also outlined his policing philosophy.

“It is totally visible police presence, that is one of the key linchpins for me,” he told Ross and Russel.

Click PLAY below to hear Shane Patton on 3AW

Image: Darrian Traynor / Getty