Grampians and Wimmera police are continuing operations to ensure Melburnians are not travelling to and staying in the region.
But police Superintendent Ian Milner says this doesn't mean they have stopped focusing on residents complying with COVID-19 directions.
The latest report from Crime Statistics Agency Victoria shows police issued 36 fines to people in breach of the Chief Health Officer's directions between March and June this year, nearly all of them in April.
Supt Milner said while police were pleased with the overall level of compliance, they still saw people breaching the rules.
"(During the second round of stage three restrictions) we've been issuing penalty notices for things such as camping overnight in the Grampians, non-essential travel, visiting friends in breach of restrictions and occupant of vehicles not residing together," he said.
WARNINGS vs FINES: Wimmera police clarify how they enforce COVID-19 restrictions
"While those restrictions have been eased, we are still out in force enforcing the current restrictions for regional Victoria. I'm not aware of any incidents of people disrespecting police in division four so far."
Division four encompasses both the Horsham and Northern Grampians police service areas. Crime data for the July to September quarter will be released in December.
At a state level, Crime Statistics Agency Victoria said 20 per cent of the 5,474 coronavirus fines handed out occurred over the Easter long weekend, a third of them between midnight and 6am. Three quarters of offenders were men.
There are now no restrictions on the reasons to leave home in regional Victoria. However, Mr Milner said police were focused on keeping public and private gatherings small, as well as ensuring people wore face masks and kept 1.5 metres distance from others.
He said police had started Operation Gariwerd and Operation Arapiles, where dedicated members patrolled the region, including campgrounds, looking for people not allowed there.
"It's only a problem if they have come from a restricted zone like metropolitan Melbourne, otherwise people from other regions are allowed to visit," he said.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said officers had increased the number of vehicles checked at its checkpoints separating Melbourne from the rest of the state, "including every vehicle towing a caravan or boat".
Friday October 2 marked 200 days since the Victorian government declared a state of emergency relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the time, the government said the state of emergency gave Chief Health Officer Dr Brett Sutton a suite of powers to ban mass gatherings and make other enforceable decisions necessary to contain the spread of the virus.
Alexander Darling
Alexander has been a member of the Wimmera Mail-Times' editorial team since December 2018, covering politics, business and property among other rounds. He is a passionate St.Kilda and rock and roll fan, and has previously worked as a radio reporter in Port Macquarie and Gosford, NSW.
Alexander has been a member of the Wimmera Mail-Times' editorial team since December 2018, covering politics, business and property among other rounds. He is a passionate St.Kilda and rock and roll fan, and has previously worked as a radio reporter in Port Macquarie and Gosford, NSW.
