Why are the police not wearing PPE or staying 2 m apart?

[pontypridd]

We saved a lost child today - out on our walk. The police came to help and none of them were wearing PPE. None of them kept even 1 m apart from each other, us or the lost child.

This is the 5/6th time we've personally encountered the police during this lockdown. Every time - there's a collection of them with no PPE. And they don't social distance from us, other members of public or from each other.

Why are the police not complaining about the lack of PPE and social distancing for themselves at work - as teachers and the NHS staff are?

Or do they know something that the rest of us don't?

[ShowOfHands]

DH is a copper and we bumped into a colleague yesterday whilst out exercising and they were laughing about this. We stood around 3m apart and had a quick chat and he then remarked that it was all well and good but tomorrow, they'll be in a car together, in an interview room, arresting/restraining people, offering emergency first aid, at debriefs, attending domestics etc and distance is impossible. Face masks would also be lost in the most minor of scuffles, get caught in ear pieces and on radios etc which are used constantly. They'd prove totally pointless.

They do wear gloves for everything though. If you're married to a copper, you find gloves in every pocket, every bag, every drawer. They get through hundreds of them.

They're meticulous about hygiene in other ways too. DH never brings uniform home, decontaminates at work and again before entering the house, showers before leaving home and again on arriving at work. Some officers have moved out of home to protect their families.

Most of dh's colleagues are healthy categories without underlying issues and largely, fit and active. They have had people off work but few serious cases.

[Nicknacky]

User Are you talking about police officer deaths due to the virus?

[Kitsmummy]

My partner is a Policeman. They have no ppe, there is none available to them. Social distancing is not possible either.

My partner was hospitalised with COVID. Luckily he has recovered well. At work the other day they had arrested someone and then had to drive her home, even though she had suspected COVID. No ppe for that either . I have no idea why no-one seems to give a shit about the Police.

[user1477391263]

It’s being managed with staggered shifts, 2m distancing where possible, strict isolation policies and extremely good hygiene practices.

UK death figures suggest to me that it isn't being managed very well at all, frankly.

[rhubarbfizzy]

What @pest said

[Thisdressneedspockets]

Even if the police feel they're putting members of the public in no danger by standing close to them, they should respect that member of the public's wish to follow the guidelines on social distancing.

They shouldn't be placing people in a position where they're simultaneously feeling stress of speaking to an official and feeling fear of catching a virus from them.

[Juanmorebeer]

I forgot to add to my post last night that yes we sadly have lost collegues to the virus. One chap at the very start of lockdown who was early 50s and fully operational until he came down with it and sadly died quickly. So incredibly sad he was so loved. Quite a few ex staff I know of also passed away during April.


We did have quite a few off, more people isolating with symptoms during March and April, it seems to have tailed off a bit now.

we have lots and lots of civilian staff who are shielding but most are working from home anyway.

In terms of officers, there are a few who are actually shielding and therefore not working out and about right now and are doing sort of 'desk duty' from home for 12 weeks. This is less common due to the police medical which you have to pass when you start, it's really in depth so the people off right now probably developed their conditions after starting work with the police.

However there are several new recruits who were coming into our force this month who have been placed on medical hold for a while because even though they passed the police medical they still got a shielding letter so we cannot therefore let them start the role. So this has affected our recruitment cohorts. Not massively though.

It's a struggle every day to continue working through this as really, HOW are we supposed to socially distance whilst doing our job?

All you see is pictures and videos of officers being slagged off for being to close together I really wish people would engage their brains.

We had two officers filmed and put on social media when they were in a local park just after restrictions had come in. Absolutely ripped apart online for walking in a two on a path just quietly patrolling.

The officers are actually married and happened to be on shift together that day! But even if they weren't wtf, we are damned either way.

If we are not present outside, we are not doing anything to enforce and people complain. Too much presence trying to keep crowds down? Should be busy solving burglaries. Not enough police out and about to be seen? Where are the police when you need them?


It's exhausting tbh. Good job it's the best job in the world and I massively give a shit about my community otherwise I'd be off to work in an ALDI warehouse quick time.

[Nicknacky]

Bleep We don’t have a lot of overweight officers, but yes we do have them. Obviously if it became such an issue that they were unable to do their role then it would need to be addressed.

[Bleepbloopblarp]

Maybe police are generally fit-ish and youngish and that’s why they aren’t “dropping like flies”. Are police allowed to be very overweight?! (Genuinely don’t know).

But, yes there are loads of professions still working without PPE who aren’t dropping like flies. Doctors/nurses/nhs workers are obvs in closest contact with covid patients so are most susceptible to catching it.

[Nicknacky]

Bunnyfuller That’s terrible, my sympathy to you all.

We had at one point, on average of 120 uniformed officers off due to exposure, symptoms etc however no testing was available, that was out of about 700 officers (I think). But it was no where near the numbers we were fearing and certainly in my department we have only had one confirmed and a few others off with isolation.

We were all given uniform for the expected return to uniform but it’s never been needed. Thankfully.

[Bunnyfuller]

Actually, lots of police are catching it. But you won’t find that in the news because....police. Much more fun to bash them, right.

A colleague died a week ago, in her chair at home. She had been 111 triaged as not needing hospital despite breathing difficulties and she died overnight. I know of several people personally in the job who have it/have had it.

Why do people let the media dictate their views?

[Lifeisabeach09]

The police aren’t dropping like flies because most people they come into contact with it probably don’t have it. Nurses actually work with positive cases of COVID.

In England, an estimated 1 in 400 have tested positive for covid based on 11000 people sampled.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52662066

[EnthusiasmIsDisturbed]

I work in mh. Only time we wear PPE is when we were caring for someone with covid. We do a lot of cleaning through

We can’t socially distance at work either.

Probably makes us more relaxed about the social distancing and less fearful of catching covid.

[CoachBombay]

AvenueofCherryBlossom I agree with you.

Police are doing an incredibly difficult job generally let alone during a global pandemic they are under staffed, under payed and under appreciated for the work they do.

[Avenueofcherryblossom]

as though they’re magically protected

That seems to be the case in general with the police though. The police are expected to put themselves in harms way every day with fairly limited protection. Look at the first police officers to arrive at the London Bridge attacks, they were just armed with sticks. A man tried to murder a police officer in Hendon just a few weeks ago and last week I saw a report about a man who attacked and injured police officers in Essex as they arrested him for attempting to murder two other police officers.

Police officers don’t have a choice about working and generally they just get on with the job despite the dangers.

[Kangourou]

There's a difference between PPE (protects the wearer) and face masks, even surgical ones, which are legally classed as medical devices, not PPE, and protect other people.

I'm not in the UK. Police where I am are wearing masks, but we also have compulsory mask-wearing in certain shopping areas (and recommended in all shops), all public transport etc and are slowly being provided with masks by the authorities, so it's becoming more normalised.

[Nicknacky]

Bubblebee7 Why wouldn’t the people we come into contact not be likely to have it?

[Ledkr]

My husband is police and although tries his best to stay safe its inpossible.
He leaves his uniform at work apart from when it needs washing and he showers as soon as he gets home, washes hands often etc. I was scared at first but i try not to think about it now.

[Bubblebee7]

The police aren’t dropping like flies because most people they come into contact with it probably don’t have it. Nurses actually work with positive cases of COVID. Nurses and lots of other jobs are suppose to social distance it’s not possible not just the distance but like another poster said they sit in the same car and so on..

[Barbie222]

It's not needed when working with the general public. Teachers don't understand this.

It is advised that you should take steps to keep 2m distance from people. Passing contact is less risky than long term contact where you are in the same enclosed space as others for more than 15 minutes. That's why we are not proposing that people reopen bars and restaurants yet, because there would be a high risk of the virus spreading.

Teachers do understand the bit about being in a confined space with other people, thankfully. That's why they are wondering why it doesn't matter if you are in close contact with 15 children for a few hours, but not allowed to sit with family for a few hours. I doubt anyone spends a few hours sitting at arms length from a supermarket worker. The ones I've seen are too busy moving around to do that, and the ones on the tolls are shielded.

[Nicknacky]

wonderstuff To be fair, it was a post about police and social distancing etc. You are rightly free to post what I want but I did read your posting thinking that not every thing has to be about teachers and wondered of you posted on the wrong thread.

[wonderstuff]

First post said police weren't complaining but teachers were then a few people said teachers don't understand ppe. I may be a little sensitive at the moment.

[ThatsWhatHeroesDo]

Police aren't wearing PPE because they don't have it. I know people on response teams who were given 4 disposable masks for a set of 6 shifts. One large force has ordered 250000 non surgical face coverings. Sounds a lot but if you have 12500 operational officers changing it once a shift, that's maybe a fortnight's supply. Of course you can't do police work from 2m apart. Imagine being beaten up and robbed and having to yell about it across the street to the officer who turned up.

Sickness absence is actually pretty low even though officers are interacting with large numbers of people every day and are targeting the sort of people more likely than others to have Covid.

[greathat]

How has a thread about police officers turned into one about teachers? The jobs are completely different

[wonderstuff]

I'm a teacher, we have 1200 children on roll, I and several of my students and a couple of other staff members did become unwell shortly after lockdown. Probably covid but no testing was available then. I don't think that teachers should have ppe, I don't think we should return to full classes until it is safe.

I can't tell you how worried I was about the number of people I'd potentially spread the virus to when I was unwell. I think we need to do what we can to limit the number of students each teacher comes into contact with and we need a reliable test and contact tracing system. No reason why schools shouldn't go back once that's in place and the level of community illness is sufficiently low.