COVID Support Officers take to the streets

Published: 17 December 2020

On Monday 14th December a new team of Covid Support Officers started making their first officials rounds of the city.

The new team made up of 11 volunteers from different areas of the Council will be proactively working in and around retail parks, district centres and the city centre to observe and engage with businesses that are open and note any COVID secure issues and to explain and encourage COVID compliance with members of the public.

The team do not have any enforcement powers and are tasked with a ‘here to help’ approach, supporting businesses and public to do their Christmas and Sales shopping safely. Any issues that need escalating are reported to the Food and Safety and if necessary, the Police to take enforcement action.

The new deployment will enable the Food and Safety team to focus on regulatory work and other staff to concentrate their efforts on the local Track and Trace work having been acting in a COVID support role since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Currently these colleagues have been redeployed from their existing roles up to the end of January.

Councillor Jonathan Smale, Cabinet Member for Communities, Neighbourhoods and Streetpride said:

I’m delighted that these new officers are in place to support our shops, businesses and residents

The here to help philosophy is very important, by and large people are trying to comply with restrictions and do the right thing and our team are there to help businesses stay compliant and inform and educate the public where needed too.

As we all get ready for Christmas things can seem a bit more frantic and the shops are busier so we all need to do the right thing for Derby and help each other by following the guidelines, maintain social distancing, wash our hands and wear our masks.

Health, Public safety