City police say their plans around dealing with emergencies like pandemics are continually refreshed with new information and available to their members.

Community Safety Coordinator John Schultz tells BayToday the new coronavirus hasn’t come up yet, but pandemic situations are covered off in the plan.

“If it was to hit our community, our police leaders would be well-appraised of that and making sure our pandemic plan is put into effect,” he says.

Schultz says the World Health Organization estimates 15-35 percent of the workforce could be impacted, so police would have to look at front-line service availability.

“We’d probably be looking at cancelling vacation, cancelling courses and making sure our front-line services are available,” he tells BayToday. “We already have supplies of masks, gloves sanitary drinking water.”

He also says they could probably expect to be called to healthcare facilities as line-ups get longer.

The plan also looks at hygiene initiatives, redeployment of staff, public access to police headquarters and restrictions around calls for service.

 

(File photo by station staff)

Filed under: North Bay Police Service