Under quarantine, police officer finds new way to service his community
Shen Wei, a police officer from Zhoupu Town in the Pudong New Area, works at Mingtianhuacheng, a residential complex which is currently under quarantine after the discovery of two COVID-19 cases among its residents.
Shen Wei, a police officer in Zhoupu Town in the Pudong New Area, is now on temporary duty at Mingtianhuacheng, a residential complex under quarantine after the discovery of two COVID-19 cases last week.
Shen, who is also a resident of the complex, normally serves at another community, but he's decided to stay close to home and serve his neighbors.
Shen was having dinner with his family in another town on the evening of November 20 when he was ordered to return to his station as two COVID-19 cases from the residential complex were announced and officers were required to assist in the work of nucleic acid testing on all residents.
He worked overnight, going up and down the complex with over 2,000 families and 6,000 residents to make sure that all were tested.
The residential complex was going to be quarantined for 14 days from the evening of November 20, but the next morning, when Shen was given the chance to leave with his colleagues, he chose to stay behind.
“The community police officer serving our residential complex doesn’t live here, so there's no one who can take over his job better than me, who both has the experience and lives here,” he said.
A community police officer’s job is to work alongside the residential committee, the property management firm and other parties to ensure the safety of all residents, and Shen quickly settled into his new role.
His first job was to find lodgings for a taxi driver who got stuck in the complex. The driver, who doesn’t live in the residential complex, drove a passenger home on the night of November 20 minutes before the complex was locked down.
Shen coordinated with the residential committee and lodged the driver in one of the committee's rooms on the first night. The next day, they got him moved into a service facility of the complex and provided him with towels, toothbrush, toothpaste and bed linens.
As residents are not allowed to leave the residential complex, they have to collect their food and parcel deliveries and other supplies at the gate of the complex, but items quickly piled up as crowds of residents gathered at the gate.
To address the problem, Shen suggested that property managers be divided into two groups to sort supplies and communicate with residents, thereby making the distribution more efficient and avoiding crowds.
Residents are getting used to the presence of Shen as a temporary community police officer and said they feel more confident in coping with the quarantine with his help.
Shen Wei talks to community volunteers.
