Rural Crime Team equipped with mobile defibrillators under collaboration with North West Ambulance Service

Police officers are often the first on the scene to emergency incidents and, in instances where the preservation of life is crucial, every second counts in ensuring injured parties get the medical attention they need before they can be properly treated by paramedics.

This job becomes increasingly harder when, like Cheshire, the region has large amounts countryside with the supply of first aid kits and defibrillators being limited.

In an effort to combat this, Cheshire's Rural Crime Team (RCT) have partnered with NWAS, who have donated five next-generation mobile defibrillators, that can be stored in the Rural Crime Team's vehicles and easily carried.

During a presentation held at Police Headquarters on Tuesday 7 May, NWAS paramedic Rebecca Clark formally presented Deputy Chief Constable Chris Armitt and the Rural Crime Team with the kits and provided them with an in-depth lesson on how they work.

The defib kits in question, which are worth around £10K in total and have the power to administer up to 150 shocks on a single charge, deliver audible instructions to its users that walk them through everything from administering the shock itself to delivering chest compressions to the correct rhythm. 

During the handover of the kits, Sergeant Rob Simpson and Police Constable’s John Teasdale, Jim Clark, Sarah Marson and Dan Williams got hands-on experience with the devices, learning the steps needed to deliver the life-saving shocks and first aid.

Following the demonstration, PC Teasdale will be working alongside representatives from the North West Ambulance Service in acquiring similar devices and rolling them out across the force and the wider county.

Police Constable John Teasdale, of the Rural Crime Team, said:

"Police officers are often the first on the scene to most incidents and are, more often than not, not equipped to the extent of our ambulance counterparts with life-saving medical equipment.

"Not only this, but Cheshire is home to vast areas of rural spaces where emergency services may struggle to reach or medical equipment is few-and-far-between, so we are extremely grateful to our colleagues at the North West Ambulance service for kindly providing us these five state-of-the-art portable defibrillators that will allow us to deliver potentially life-saving emergency first aid to those who need it."

Sergeant Rob Simpson, added:

"This is the start of a wider collaborative effort with our ambulance colleagues and, moving forward, we will continue working alongside the North West Ambulance Service to install similar kits outside our Local Policing Units.

"Not only this, but we will also be working with the team in overhauling our existing collection of kits, replacing any that have reached the end of use with brand new ones that anyone can use."