Larissa Jacobs, 38, Hastings

Police officer

A photo of constable Larissa Jacobs in full hazmat suit on an NZ Police Facebook page this week was a stark revelation.

The 38-year-old Hastings police officer has attended only one job in the full PPE suit so far, but patrol cars now all have kits of the gowns, masks and visors stored in the boot.

If police communications believe an incident has a risk of direct exposure to a Covid-19 case, the attending officers are instructed to stop and change into the kits en route.

“That job there was a female knocking on doors wanting to use the bathroom and she had quite a lot of flu-like symptoms so we stopped somewhere and kitted up for that job,” Jacobs says of the Facebook snap.

“We don’t want to scare the public by wearing the suit but at the same time at the back of your head you think ‘are we going to get in a scuffle?’.”

But although Jacobs admits there is “a lot of added pressure” with the new procedures, the biggest stress is the public’s ignorance and disregard of the lockdown rules.

“We’re doing a lot of patrolling and actually educating people on the streets who are not understanding of the seriousness of this,” she says.

It’s not hard for Jacobs to recognise the seriousness, as she has had to isolate from her 19-yearold daughter since the lockdown.

“My daughter stays with me but she’s actually staying out on a farm [now] because I don’t want her exposed if I got ill or something.

“It’s hard, we’re very close, but it is what it is. We’re both in a positive mindframe and we keep in contact. So it’s just keeping that going, keeping that contact going. Mainly phone calls, text.”