FRONTLINE Essex Police officers have been equipped with specialist bleed prevention kits that will help them give injured people better emergency care.

Our officers are frequently first on the scene of accidents or incidents where a person may have suffered a laceration or wound that needs urgent medical attention.

The bleed kits - containing a trauma dressing, a chest seal, a pack bandage, a tourniquet, gloves, scissors, a foil blanket, and a mouthguard for giving CPR - give officers the tools they need to treat injuries and prevent people from entering hypovolemic shock or even dying from blood loss.

So far, there have been 278 kits issued to teams across the force, supplementing their existing first aid packs.

PC Ryan Scott of Clacton Local Policing Team helped save the life of a man using a tourniquet from a bleed kit. He said the kits will be invaluable to officers like him who are responding to 999 calls and may be faced with a situation where a life is in danger:

"Having a bleed kit is crucial because when you're first on scene every second counts and an ambulance may be minutes away. We can do that initial life-saving work before the paramedics take over.

"I was called to an incident with two colleagues where a man had been injured. We rolled him over and his arm was covered in blood. He had two wounds that were both arterial bleeds – they were pouring blood.

The contents of a bleed prevention kit.

"One of my colleagues got a bleed kit and we started to bandage the wounds but the blood was soaking through. We then applied a tourniquet to his arm and an ambulance arrived and whisked him away.

"Later on, I spoke to the surgeon who said without the bandages and the tourniquet from the bleed kit, it's likely the man would have died."

Incidents of violence with injury have decreased across the county by 6.5% in the past 12 months but response officers like PC Scott are always prepared that they may be faced with the aftermath of an accident, collision or altercation that requires them to make a life-saving intervention.

Officers are given thorough emergency first aid training when they join the force and then have regular refresher sessions. PC Scott said the bleed kits will give officers the confidence to deal whatever injuries they are faced with:

"We can use the kits where there has been any serious lacerations or trauma. They're standardized and you know exactly what's in them, so you know what you have to help you.

"We deal with situations where people are in desperate need or even dying in front of us. You know when you've got the kit, you have a real chance of saving someone who might otherwise not survive. And that's what we're here for - to preserve life and limb."