The resourcefulness which police officers display every day of their working lives came in useful when Leicestershire Police Federation officers thought about how they could help colleagues at this time of national crisis.
Dave Stokes (Chair), Matt Robbinson (Retired Secretary), Jon Carter-Lang (Secretary), Adam Commons (Vice-Chair) – Left to right
With local resources about to be stretched to the limit, they decided to transform their welfare van into a self-contained sterile safety vehicle, suitable for their Force to use in the fight against Covid-19.
Forensically cleaned and packed with PPE, ten bags of sealed food and complete with shower, toilet and microwave, it has now been turned over to Leicestershire Police commanders.
Chair Dave Stokes even enlisted the help of a family member to ensure it was equipped with high-spec respiratory face masks which were donated by a local company.
Before handing it over to the force to be used as a dedicated Covid-19 response vehicle, the vehicle was first forensically cleaned.
Leicestershire Police Federation Chair said: “The van is ex-NHS and has hot water and even its’ own heating. We bought it second hand and felt it would be much more use as a ‘safe’ location for colleagues when dealing with virus-related incidents.
“It has been forensically cleaned inside and out to ensure it is completely sterile inside.
“My son worked for a local firm and managed to get some respiratory face masks courtesy of the factory where he works.
“We’ve also added forensic suites, gloves, hand sanitiser and even double bagged 10 bags of food supplies to leave inside so the vehicle can remain self-contained during an operation.”
Leicestershire Police Federation have now donated the vehicle to their Force’s Gold Command Group, and it has been sealed to ensure it is sterile when called into action.
Dave added: “It’s the least we could do. It could be a really useful addition to the Force’s resources in the fight against Coronavirus.”
