Covid Community Officers hit Gloucestershire streets
Published: Monday, 2 November, 2020
The officers, from Gloucester’s Award Winning Community Protection scheme, wearing their distinctive red vests, have extended their patch to cover Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and Stroud, in a bid to help combat the spread of Covid.
They will be on hand with face coverings and hand gel to give away, offer tips on social distancing and work with retailers to help them be Covid secure.
To put these ambassadorial style roles in place, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Stroud, Tewkesbury councils and the county council have worked together, pooling some of their Covid funding from Government.
Although the new officers do not have an enforcement role, they can as a very last resort, issue yellow cards to people who seriously or repeatedly flout advice given to them, which could lead to a fine from Police or their local council.
The new scheme will see two CPOs designated to Stroud, Tewkesbury and Cheltenham shared over five days a week.
There will also be two additional officers in Gloucester for two days a week, assigned to the Barton, Tredworth and Kingsholm areas.
Gloucester currently has four Community Protection officers who will also continue with their usual duties which include tackling shoplifting and providing assistance to homeless and vulnerable people.
In a joint statement the leaders of the councils involved said:
“These continue to be tough times for us all and we want to do all we can to help people to be aware of the things they can do to keep themselves and others safe and most importantly reduce the spread of Covid in the county.
“Although increasing, the number of cases remains low compared to many other places. We want to make sure it stays that way and would encourage everyone to play their part by remembering three simple things hands, face and space.”