Police are pulling over drivers and threatening fines of up to £960 as Britain's new coronavirus lockdown laws take effect.
Officers in Cornwall have warned they will stop motorists suspected of heading to the beach and search their boots.
In Derbyshire, police shared drone footage of dog walkers in the Peak District, shaming them for conducting non-essential travel.
Civil liberties groups have reportedly slammed the police for 'Orwellian' behaviour, describing the drone recording in Derbyshire as 'over-the-top policing'.
Officers were handed the right to enforce the Health Protection Regulations yesterday afternoon.
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They are now able to fine anyone outside their home without good reason, with penalties starting at £60 but rising to a maximum of £960 for repeat offenders.
The authorities can arrest anyone who refuse to comply.
Anyone who does not pay the penalty, which can be reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days, will be dragged before the courts, which have the power to issue an unlimited fine.
Derbyshire Police shamed walkers in the Peak District on Twitter yesterday.
A video uploaded by the force showed a car park filled with vehicles near the beauty spot of Curbar Edge.
In the clip, a list of activities were deemed 'non-essential', including dog walking in the Peak District, heading to a vista to watch the sun set, stopping for an Instagram photograph and driving to a place for a walk.
Derbyshire Police tweeted: "Despite posts yesterday highlighting issues of people still visiting the #PeakDistrict despite government guidance, the message is still not getting through.
" @DerPolDroneUnit have been out at beauty spots across the county, and this footage was captured at #CurbarEdge last night.
"Whilst the government has advised to take one form of exercise a day, it is not appropriate to be getting in your car and travelling to take this exercise, particularly to a location, such as the Peak District that in normal times can become busy.
"We saw last week where such places in Derbyshire and other parts of the country became dangerously overcrowded, making social distancing extremely hard, and in fact today our officers have had to break up a group having a picnic.
"These are all lovely things to do but not in the middle of a pandemic that is literally costing people their lives.
"Our actions and the government’s advice are there to keep you and others safe and ensure that our NHS is able to cope in order to save as many lives as possible."
A spokesman for the force told The Guardian the footage was not ' Big Brother ' behaviour.
They said the video showed people were breaking Government rules, adding that they should walk their dogs near their homes.
It comes after police set up road blocks in the streets to enforce social isolation.
On Wednesday a family-of-five from Merseyside who arrived in North Wales for a day out at the seaside were stopped by police and told to return home, The Liverpool Echo reported.
Check points were established in Plymouth, Devon, and in several places across Cornwall.
As of yesterday, a total of 150 vehicles were checked in Penzance, Hayle, and St Ives to find out whether their journeys were essential.
Plymouth D Section Response took to Twitter to share a picture of their roadblock.
They tweeted: "We are continuing our work again this morning with road calming measures and enquiries ref essential travel, consider this now the norm.
"Officers have also deployed to various supermarkets to assist with queuing flows and social distancing."
