Officers take to the slopes for severe weather training with other frontline workers

Officers from the ROST (Rural and Operational Support Team) and Dacorum Intervention team recently took part in an exercise involving around 300 frontline workers inside Hemel Hempstead’s Snow Centre.

Organised by Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, the exercise code-named Frostbite, saw frontline officers join paramedics, firefighters, other health partners and military colleagues come together to test their skills and knowledge in responding to a collision in extreme conditions.

The exercise, which took months of planning, was also supported by fire and police cadets and other partner organisations such as Mid-Shires Search and Rescue, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Emergency Critical Care Service and the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Trust.

Throughout the exercise, JESIP (Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles) - A programme designed to improve the way police forces, fire and rescue services and ambulance trusts work together when responding to major multi-agency incidents was demonstrated during the exercise by all services.

Chief Constable Charlie Hall said: “The multi-agency exercise gave our officers a realistic opportunity to prepare for a major incident in tough conditions, while working with other emergency services such as the ambulance service, fire and rescue service, critical care teams, and the search and rescue team amongst others.

“It was a brilliant event and I want to praise everyone who was involved both from a policing perspective and other emergency services. JESIP will only become stronger the more practice we have with these situations, and although you can’t always fully prepare for a major incident, you can give yourself the best chance with up-to-date training and being equipped.

“It is important that we train alongside other emergency services, to ensure that we will function well together when jointly deployed to the benefit of the public.”