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Sean Gallup via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n
Police in Switzerland have threatened to stop enforcing COVID-19 rules over fears that the measures are disproportionately undermining the fundamental rights of citizens.<\/strong><\/p>\n A group representing police officers in the Alpine country wrote a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0to the Swiss Federation of Police Officers (FSFP) warning of potential insubordination within the force over the enforcement of draconian laws.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the measures were to conflict with the general opinion of the population, disproportionately limiting their fundamental rights, many police officers would no longer be willing to apply them,\u201d the group wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n While the letter was received favorably by lockdown skeptics, the FSFP attempted to dismiss it by claiming it only represented a small number of police officers.<\/p>\n Adrian Gaugler of the Conference of Cantonal Police Commanders went further, threatening the officers with sanctions if they refused to enforce the measures.<\/p>\n \u201cAn officer who refuses to enforce the law can be punished,\u201d said Gaugler.<\/p>\n \u201cPolice refusing to enforce coronavirus measures is not unique to Switzerland,\u201d\u00a0writes<\/a>\u00a0Chris Tomlinson.<\/p>\n \u201cEarlier this year, police in the Canadian province of Ontario rejected new powers given by the provincial government that would have allowed them to stop any motorist or pedestrian and demand to know where they live and why they were not at home.\u201d<\/p>\n As we previously\u00a0highlighted<\/a>, after lockdown was imposed in Switzerland, calls to private investigators soared as a result of people wanting their neighbors investigated for making too much noise.<\/p>\n