Cornerstone is providing 100 Sleep Pods to provide temporary shelter to people sleeping rough and help protect them from the elements.
PSCO can distribute the pods to vulnerable people they meet and record their location to share with local support services.
Nicky Morson, Communication and Support lead at Cornerstone, said: “This partnership offers an exciting step forward in confronting the issue of homelessness. The whole point of the police carrying Sleep Pods is to give people they are finding, who are rough-sleeping, an option.”
Nicky added: “Before, if they hadn’t been too naughty, they couldn’t get locked up – or if they weren’t poorly enough, they couldn’t go to hospital. And they were left, but with a Sleep Pod, they can be sighted.”
Cornerstone is a regional distribution hub for Sleep Pods, and regularly gives them to individuals across Hartlepool and County Durham who are sleeping rough.
The pods allow officers to mark individual locations and set up continued support.
Now the officers are able to distribute Sleep Pods, those isolated individuals can stay safe, and officers can notify Cornerstone to provide additional support.
