The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Gwent and Gwent Police have been officially recognised for their commitment to supporting people living with dementia.

During an event at Gwent Police’s Headquarters in Cwmbran today (Wednesday September 28), Gwent PCC Jeff Cuthbert and the Chief Constable of Gwent Police, Jeff Farrar, were presented with the official Alzheimer’s Society ‘Dementia Friendly Community’ kite mark.

To secure accreditation, staff from the OPCC and the Force attended awareness sessions to increase their understanding of dementia. Nearly 1,000 front-line officers from Gwent Police also received the training to ensure that they are able to understand and support vulnerable people in the community and respond effectively and with empathy when people with dementia become confused.

The Force has also supported and adopted the Herbert Protocol, a national safeguarding plan which assists police, health and the local authorities to reduce the risk of harm people with dementia are exposed to if they go missing.

The initiative is named after George Herbert, a war veteran of the Normandy landings, who lived with dementia. The protocol encourages carers to compile useful information which could be used in the event of a vulnerable person going missing.

Welcoming the accreditation, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, Jeff Cuthbert, said, “We fully support the Dementia Friendly Community concept and a lot of work has been undertaken internally to ensure that my staff and staff and officers at Gwent Police fully understand the challenges faced by people living with dementia and the wider implications it can have.”

The Chief Constable of Gwent Police, Jeff Farrar, added, “The Dementia Friendly kite mark is a testament to our commitment as a Force to providing the best quality of service to some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

“We recognise the need to protect and support people living with dementia who may become confused, go missing and generally need people to understand their condition. By providing essential awareness raising sessions to all of our staff and officers, we are providing a more effective service to individuals and the families of those living with dementia.”

Phil Diamond, Theme Lead for the Health & Social Care Transformation Team at Torfaen Council, who worked with the Force and OPCC, said: “Everybody will be touched by dementia at some point - if it is not immediate family, it will be extended family or friends – but it only takes 45 minutes to become a dementia friend and find out more information about dementia.

“This started as a project under the Social Services and Wellbeing Act but has become a social movement over the last year and we have created more than 7,000 dementia friends across Gwent.

“I congratulate both Gwent Police and OPCC on receiving their awards and to my knowledge they are the only Force and OPCC to officially receive these awards.”