How on earth do you enforce a lock-down?

This has never happened before and understandably many citizens are finding it hard to comprehend, let alone enact.

There is no doubt we are fortunate compared to countries like Uganda and India, where people are driven into their homes at the barrel of a gun or are set upon by cane-wielding police officers for no reason.

These scenarios are not being played out in Dorset, of course, and I’d like to pay fulsome tribute to our police officers.

They, like other Forces across the country, are having to learn how to manage their draconian new powers.

To their great credit, Dorset’s response has been low-key and proportionate.

Inevitably, human nature has seen other officers in other Forces behaving unreasonably.

I do not think pursuing fell walkers with a drone or forbidding the sale of Easter eggs is proportionate.

Lord Sumption, the former Supreme Court Justice, has warned against our becoming a police state, imposing restrictions with no legal authority.

However, being sensible and social distancing will save lives.

We’ve been told not to leave home unless it’s for food, medicine, exercise, work that cannot be done elsewhere, or to help the vulnerable.

For families with children, it must be particularly hard and the desire to get some air and space on our beautiful beaches and footpaths must be overwhelming.

While rules should be obeyed, I am not alone in feeling uneasy by the rise of those only too willing to inform on their neighbours to the police for petty infractions.

These are scenes reminiscent of France during the Occupation, or East Germany under the Stasi secret police.

Friends and neighbours turning on each other is a recipe for disaster.