Officers from a dedicated proactive policing team are being equipped to work in precarious locations as they took part in a specialist training event.
The Rescue Provision Training, also known as ‘at height’ training, gives officers the opportunity to train in a real-life environment and build their skills and confidence when they are needed to work in locations which are high above ground level.
This includes climbing buildings, vehicles and searching landscapes, all of which can offer their own set of challenges as officers are working hard to investigate and keep people safe.
Officers from the Rushcliffe Operation Reacher team joined at J Swingler Transport in Cotgrave Lane, Tollerton, where they were able to run through a number of exercises and scenarios using heavy goods vehicles and fuel tankers provided by the haulage company.
Sergeant James Ross, who heads the Rushcliffe Operation Reacher team, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity to train in a real-life environment that is hard to replicate.
“It’s imperative for officers to know how to safely navigate and do their jobs at height. We can very often come across scenarios where we have to work in precarious locations, including on top of lorries and other vehicles.
“It can be a very intense and serious part of the job, and being able to make the training intense and as life-like as possible means officers can get a full understanding of what it’s like and also makes them more confident going into such scenarios.
“Our main priority is to keep people safe and this means being able to do our jobs effectively in a variety of scenarios. One major way this training will be used is when it comes to concerns for people’s safety. When officers are called to such jobs, it’s often required that we go to the person in distress, no matter their location, often at height, and speak to them with the aim of comforting them and somewhat helping them out of that distress.
“This training will also be used for evidence recovery. For example, a key item may have been discarded or thrown on top of a building and officers are tasked to retrieve that in order to help a successful investigation.
“A recent example is from a concern for safety at a quarry. The gentleman had left some very sentimental items at the location and officers were deployed to recover them.
“It’s definitely a scenario which requires this type of training. We’re very grateful to the haulage company for allowing us to use their equipment and helping us put this training on – something we’ve been working on for a while but have been unable to finalise due to Covid-19 restrictions.
“We have a number of officers who were on this training for the first time and others who were on a refresher course, all of whom have spoken really positively about the training, so it’s great that we’ve been able to make this happen together.”
Ben Thompson, manager at J Swingler Transport, said the company was pleased to help with the training, on Tuesday, 21 July 2021.
“When we were approached by officers and asked if we could help them out with this training, we of course wanted to help,” he said.
“Having worked with heavy goods vehicles and other large vehicles for a while now, I know how important it is to have the right training and get used to them and their height.
“We’re also a family-run business and the yard has been here for over 100 years, so, being from Nottinghamshire it was great to be able to give something back to the local team. We provided a number of HGVs and tankers which were used for officers to mock a number of scenarios.
“It was our first time working together and I’m very pleased to hear that the team has had some really positive feedback about the training and that it went smoothly.”
