Police dispatcher cooks for Covid responders

A police dispatcher has spent the day dispatching meals to fellow emergency service workers at the forefront of the battle against Covid-19.

Nurun Khair is usually responsible for deploying officers to emergency situations, but she swapped her headset for a hob as she prepared and cooked 150 portions of curry and rice for paramedics and other ambulance staff.

Today (5 June), at police headquarters in Enderby, Leicestershire, she held a pickup service for the crews from East Midlands Ambulance Service to show her appreciation for frontline workers on the roads - responding to the global pandemic and other health emergencies.

There was also a small respite area set up for any staff able to take a break to eat their meal.

Nurun was joined by Special Sergeant Steve Muggleton who also whipped up some homemade muffins. Steve, who volunteers his time as an officer, is a chef by trade and offered up his culinary skills for the cause.

As one of 189 special officers working for Leicestershire Police, Steve has also clocked up 108 hours in the last two months as part of Operation Formidable – the force’s mobilisation of special constables to assist regular colleagues during the lockdown.

The idea for today came after Nurun cooked and delivered 100 pots of curry and rice to nurses working at the Leicester Royal Infirmary.

Her passion for cooking started at around the age of seven when she was first taught to cook by her mother. Now her curries are a regular feature in the police control room as she often cooks for the team, usually as part of their monthly charity fundraising.

On the menu today were two dishes – a chicken and a chickpea curry, as well as freshly baked chocolate chip and blueberry and oat muffins.

Nurun said: “As a thank you for everything our colleagues in the NHS are doing I wanted to do something to show my appreciation. Cooking is something I love to do so it seemed fitting to provide a home cooked lunch to those who are out on our roads for hours at a time, responding to coronavirus and other health emergencies.”

Steve added: “When I heard what Nurun was doing I immediately offered my services. Everyone across the country is hugely grateful to those caring for people battling this awful virus and I hope our small gesture helps to put a smile on their faces during their Friday shift.”

Money donated by police officers and staff was used to buy the ingredients for the meals. The leftover funds will be used to do create more meals for frontline workers or will be donated to a NHS charity.

Lee Brentnall, Ambulance Operations Manager for Leicestershire, said: “Nurun’s very kind and considerate gesture by cooking all of these meals for our frontline staff will be very welcomed. We have seen great numbers of the public showing kindness in the past few months, However to have the gesture from one of our emergency family adds enormous value.

“Thank you from all of our frontline, support and volunteers across Leicestershire.”