Victoria Police do full grocery shop for homeless man

Two Melbourne police officers have gone viral for an act of extreme generosity during Victoria’s week-long lockdown.

An act of extreme generosity carried out by two Melbourne police officers has gone viral on social media in the middle of Victoria’s seven-day “circuit breaker” lockdown.

Adele Barbaro shared a video last night to Facebook of the two cops outside her local Woolworths, writing that they were “heading straight for a homeless man sitting at the entry”.

“He had a handwritten sign requesting spare change so he could get some food. It's not unusual to see someone less fortunate at the entry, it happens all the time, sometimes I throw in some spare change, but most times I’m guilty of walking past,” she wrote.

“As the officers approached him, instead of saying ‘time to move on’ or ‘you know you can’t be here’, one of them said ‘What brings you out in the cold tonight mate?’

“I heard him talk about being hungry and the iPads came out as they took details, and as I made my way through the automatic doors I could hear the officers say 'We just wanna make sure you’re OK mate’.”

RELATED: PM’s breathtaking virus decision revealed

The two Melbourne officers were seen talking to a man outside a local Woolworths. Picture: Adele Barbaro/Facebook

They proceeded inside and bought a bag of groceries for the man. Picture: Adele Barbaro/Facebook

While Ms Barbaro carried out her own shopping, she “saw the 2 officers inside with a hot roast chook and some bread rolls and figured they were getting themselves late shift dinner”.

“But then I noticed staples like rice and cereal and one of the (sic) said ‘we probably need to get him some milk too’,” she wrote.

“That is when it hit me. They were not shopping for themselves. We ended up at the checkout at the same time, they had split up and seemed to do half the groceries each (with) both pulling out wallets/purses to pay half each.

“These 2 weren’t rookies, they clearly knew the difference between a scammer and someone who was genuinely hungry. As they went outside I overheard them check again that he had somewhere to stay tonight and then they handed him the bag of food with respect, compassion and kindness.”

Sharing the clip, Victoria Police wrote that “for Melburnians, this lockdown is not our first rodeo and we know people are doing it tough”.

“Follow in the footsteps of First Constable Jones and Constable Jacobson. Be Kind,” they added.

The comments underneath the video were flooded with people commending the officers for their behaviour, with one woman writing “how fortunate that we live in this country and we have a great police force”.

“What a beautiful thing to do be very proud of yourselves,” wrote another. “Definitely puts a smile on my face well done to you both.”

“What a wonderful gesture, you brought tears to my eyes and warmed my heart! Not many would do that. Vic Police, You should be very proud of these two officers,” someone else added.

RELATED: Covid protest stunt backfires spectacularly

Social media users said the generous act “brought tears” to their eyes. Picture: Adele Barbaro/Facebook

The officers checked the man had somewhere to stay before going on their way. Picture: Adele Barbaro/Facebook

The footage comes amid fears Victoria’s lockdown will be extended, with the state reporting 11 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total cluster to 51.

Speaking to reporters today, chief health officer Brett Sutton said the state was “neck and neck with this virus” – describing it as an “absolute beast”.

Professor Sutton said authorities were discussing the lockdown measures day to day – but the latest developments were “really concerning”.

“We’ve gone from a single case at the beginning of the month to 4200 primary close contacts,” he said.

“It has been a rapidly moving virus and the transmission that has occurred in those high-risk settings has been very substantial.

“So we have to take it as a day-by-day prospect. With more numbers today coming through and those really concerning settings, especially in aged care, we are neck and neck with this virus and it is an absolute beast.”

He said Victoria has to “prepare for anything” in the coming days.

“We don’t know what will unfold over coming days,” he said.

“We have said that all the way through.”