Today is National Day of Reflection and a year since the UK was placed in full lockdown. It was the start of a time full of loss, tragedy and fear for many and a year where we all had to make continuous sacrifices and changes to our lives as we adapted to a new way of living.

For officers and staff at Leicestershire Police, the past year has also brought many challenges - both professionally and personally - as they have continued to work throughout a global pandemic, adapting to new laws, adjusting to new protective clothing and equipment and working in environments and circumstances which have never been experienced before – all while continuing to fight crime and protect our communities.

This week, as we reflect on the past year, some of our officers and staff are sharing their own stories in their own words about what the past 12 months has meant for them.

Today Mark Jones, who works as a contact handler in the force's control room, tells us about the challenges he has faced over the past year.

"It started in my kitchen on a Friday night. My housemate asked me what I thought of the stories of this new virus coming out of China, was it going to be serious? It will be just like the flu I told him with all the certainty that only utter ignorance of a subject can provide.

The next few months saw a change in the type of calls into the control room. People who never had contact with the police were ringing in enquiring if they would be arrested for making a journey or asking if there would be armed police on roadblocks to stop people entering or leaving Leicester. During press conferences, the phones would be buzzing with people asking what it all meant and puzzled as to why we didn't know all the answers instantly.

I quite enjoyed the first lockdown. Doing more reading than normal, catching up on some box sets breaking some bad habits. Time to take a long hard think about life led me down some interesting paths and forced me into facing up to a few hard truths. When it ended I was happy to venture out again until I spotted the lines of people wanting to take advantage of "eat out to help out" and that the pub was lifeless - having the same conversation with the same handful of people had little appeal.

I had pretty much stopped going out when I tested positive for COVID-19. I was struck down in October but it took three months to finally shake off all the symptoms. At least one close friend was lucky to survive given his underlying conditions.

There was a lot of sadness. One of my friends who had been diagnosed with cancer died. A relative of mine who is in a care home was unable to see his wife of 50 years for six months. Other friends and relatives are struggling financially. The lockdowns have wreaked havoc on the mental health of many longstanding friends.

One of my favourite books opens with the famous line: "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times". Times of crisis force people and organisations to reveal their true selves. At work I have been appreciative of my colleagues' good humour and professionalism and impressed with the response of management to a constantly changing environment.

I am looking forward to getting my vaccine soon and eventually being able to catch up with friends, I may even implement all the new resolutions I have made for when lockdown ends. None of us can know what the full impact of the pandemic will be on us as people and as an organisation but we know we have risen to the challenge."