FACE coverings will be mandatory in Scotland shops from next Friday, but the Police Federation has questioned the practicality of the new rules saying the government expects officers to be redeployed as "pseudo storeo detectives”.

Nicola Sturgeon announced the change in policy yesterday at the Scottish Government’s daily coronavirus briefing. The First Minister said it had not been an easy decision.

She said: “It has taken us some time indeed to reach this decision, but as we all start to interact more, it is vital that we take all reasonable steps to reduce risk. And we know that these coverings can help reduce the risk of transmission indoors.”

Sturgeon also urged Scots not to wait until next week, asking them to get into the habit now. “This is an important way for all of us to help protect each other and to display that sense of solidarity that has helped the country so well over these past months,” she said.

There will be exemptions for children under five and people with certain medical conditions.

The changes will be backed up by law and those who don’t comply could be fined.

READ MORE: Face coverings to be mandatory in Scotland's shops

At least 50 other countries, including Germany, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea have made masks mandatory in a bid to tackle the spread of coronavirus.

Calum Steele, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation – the trade union for rank and file officers – said the policy was “simply impractical”.

He said it should have been the responsibility of the shops to enforce the rules .

Steele said: “While clearly this would be an easy offence to detect, it is simply impractical to expect police officers to be redeployed as pseudo store detectives across the thousands of retail outlets in Scotland.

“The easiest and most sensible thing that could have been done was to make continuance of trading conditional on retailers ensuring customers complied.

“For reasons that are far from clear, this sensible approach has either not been considered or not pursued.”

READ MORE: Scotland's pubs and restaurants may have to keep customers seated

But Stewart Forrest, the Scottish divisional officer for the shopworkers’ trade union Usdaw, said they were worried staff enforcing mandatory face coverings would become a “flashpoint”.

He said: “We do not want shopworkers to be expected to turn people away from stores because they do not have a face covering or it is not being worn properly.”

Forrest said abuse of shopworkers had doubled during the coronavirus lockdown.

He added: “Many incidents are related to enforcing social distancing and we fear that compulsory face coverings will just add another flashpoint to an already difficult situation.”

Speaking at the briefing, the First Minister said it would not be “fair or reasonable to expect workers in shops to enforce” the policy.

Sturgeon said police would act “proportionately and sensitively”.

She added: “I recognise very readily that this is not the easiest thing for the police to enforce either, which is why all of us can help by doing this voluntarily even though it is going to be backed up by law.”

Meanwhile, Charlene Tait, from Scottish Autism, welcomed the news that autistic people would be exempt from wearing the coverings.

She added: “We would also ask the public to be understanding and for shop workers to be flexible in enforcing these new rules.”