Cumbria Police have apologised for an "ill-judged" tweet that suggested people should not buy plants or compost during the coronavirus lockdown.
The local force told followers: "We are seeing an increasing amount of traffic on Cumbria's roads, especially around DIY outlet.
"Travelling to such outlets should be for tools and supplies for essential homes and gardening repairs, not for compost, plants and soft furnishings."
The tweet was later deleted and an apology was issued, while the local police and crime commissioner described it as "ill-judged".
Peter McCall told BBC Radio Cumbria: "Let's not sugar-coat it. It was ill-judged and overenthusiastic, in my view...
"In defence of the officers, they're in a really difficult position trying to maintain this lockdown and naturally everybody's getting really bored of the whole thing."
Mr McCall added that the good weather made policing the lockdown even harder for officers.
But he said that police should not be able to decide what people can buy in a shop.
He went on: "It's not for the police to decide a tin of paint is essential and compost is not...
"The point behind it really is maintaining the lockdown is important for us all - it does seem to be working in suppressing the infection rate."
Police can give people on-the-spot fines for breaking coronavirus lockdown rules - but officers have been told only to use coronavirus enforcement "as a last resort" after concerns about "overzealous" behaviour by some members of the police.
A spokesman from the National Police Chiefs Council told the Standard in April that officers have been told to encourage "voluntary compliance" from the public.
And Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu warned officers about overenthusiastic enforcement of the new rules after a number of high-profile incidents.
He said police must keep the "trust and confidence of the public" in an article for the Telegraph.
Derbyshire Constabulary dyed a popular lagoon black to discourage people from visiting and posted drone footage online of people driving to the countryside.
Meanwhile Cambridgeshire Police apologised after tweeting that officers were patrolling "non-essential" supermarket aisles.
