LAUNCESTON’S Adam Chapman has been appointed as Bude’s first ever Tri-Service Safety Officer (TSSO), writes David Sillifant.

The Tri-Service Safety Officer (TSSO) project was started back in 2014 and up to this year saw only one in the county, with Andrew Hichens working in Hayle.

Following a very successful pilot period and evaluation, the scheme of the TSSO role has subsequently been expanded through the appointment of two further TSSOs, with Adam being based in Bude and Richard Deavall in Liskeard — roles which they took up on Monday, April 3.

The expansion of the project was launched at Bude Community Fire Station last Friday morning with leading figures from the fire, ambulance and police services in Devon and Cornwall present.

A TSSO supports three emergency services in Cornwall — the Devon and Cornwall Police, the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust and the Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service. Adam’s day to day roles will include: being involved in local policing, youth engagement and a wider community safety focus of prevention and protection, as well as being an emergency responder for medical emergencies as a co-responder for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, and as an ‘on call’ firefighter and being a crew member on fire and rescue incidents.

Before applying for the role, Adam, 24, split his time working at Tesco in the Dot Com department after finishing his FdSc Emergency and Rescue Management degree at Duchy College, and working as a firefighter at Launceston Community Fire Station, where he will now have a reduced hours contract as a retained firefighter due to his new role.

Talking about the appointment, Adam said: “As you can imagine I am delighted to be given this role. To be at the forefront of emergency service collaboration is a great honour.

“It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to make a real difference in a community.”

Adam applied internally through the fire service and found out that he was being given the role back in the spring.

Since then, he and Richard have undergone five to six months of intensive training, as Adam explains.

“I’ve been up at the Devon and Cornwall Police headquarters at Middlemoor to learn the PCSO type ropes, as well as first responder training with the South Western Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust.

“We’ve also had the anti-social behaviour team from Cornwall Council show us how they operate as well as Cornwall Council’s young offenders and drugs and alcohol teams.

“I’ve also had to go through a shadowing period with Bude’s PCSO, Christopher Krolik, and I’m now coming to the end of that and we’ve also had the opportunity to shadow Andrew down at Hayle to learn how the Tri-Service role works and how it benefits the community. It was a ridiculously good opportunity to see how the elements of the role combine.”

Adam started his new job by himself on Monday and is based at the fire station where he will work on a three days on, three days off basis, with the first two days being 7am to 7pm while his last shift will see him start at 10am and finish 12 hours later.

He said: “I’m trying to blur the lines between each of the services so they don’t have to be called if possible and bring a tri-service approach to each situation.

“I’ll assist the PCSOs in the neighbourhood policing team and if I find any fire safety issues, I have the capacity to deal with them as soon as possible.

“It takes away the need to use other services, making it more efficient and a better outcome to the end user.

“I also have a responder role for the ambulance service as a first responder, as well as a responsive role for the fire service on fire shouts.

“My police role is a non-response role, so it’ll strictly be for the safeguarding and neighbourhood issues.”

Looking forward, Adam and the Tri-Service Safety Officer Project want to make a big difference.

He said: “We want to cut down the anti-social behaviour in the community and work with Cornwall Council’s anti-social case workers.

“We’ve also got a big prevention message from the fire service as well as the police. We want to promote the fire safety message within schools and other areas of the community.

“The other main thing we want to do is to stop any anti-social behaviour escalating into crimes and to stop anti-social behaviour in the first place.”

The responder manager for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, Rob Horton, was one of the men who chose Adam from a shortlist of more than 20, and made it clear that he was the standout candidate.

Rob said: “Adam demonstrated a real passion for community work. He already has a very credible history in the fire service and saw this as a great opportunity to develop his career in emergency services, understanding that prevention reduces the need for emergency work, so he’ll be proactive rather than reactive.

“He also demonstrated a good understanding of all three services and will operate under that multi-disciplinary vision.

“Through the recruitment process, he clearly outshone the other candidates so we’re looking forward to working with him.”