Police support volunteers and special constables honoured with awards
Outstanding special constables and police support volunteers receive awards at House of Commons.
Home Secretary Theresa May and Policing Minister Damian Green attended an awards ceremony today to recognise the dedication and hard work of special constables and police support volunteers.
Now in their 21st year, the Lord Ferrers Awards recognise the outstanding contribution of teams and individuals. Today’s ceremony was held at the House of Commons.
Home Secretary Theresa May said:
All special constables and police support volunteers make a vital contribution every day to cutting crime and making their communities a better place to live and work.
The Lord Ferrers Awards celebrate the outstanding commitment of some exceptional special constables and police support volunteers and the drive and energy shown by the winners is truly inspiring.
I want to thank them for their professionalism and selfless contribution of time - all the nominees are evidence that volunteers can really make a difference to the communities in which they serve.
Police forces from across England and Wales submitted a total of 94 nominations to the Home Office, from which the exceptional candidates were shortlisted.
Policing Minister Damian Green said:
Special constables and police support volunteers make a vital contribution to our communities, acting as advocates for the police, increasing understanding and building cooperation and trust.
The standard of nominations for the awards this year has been very high with a diverse range of achievements from individuals and teams.
I would like to congratulate the winners and thank them for their ongoing selfless commitment to making their communities safer.
Assistant Chief Constable Richard Bennett at the College of Policing said:
The Lord Ferrers Awards recognise the invaluable work of special constables and police volunteers who freely give their time, skills and links with communities to support the work of the police service.
Last year the special constabulary alone provided at least 4.5 million hours of policing service. These awards celebrate some of the important contributions that individuals and teams of volunteers made to local forces and communities in that time and it is a pleasure to recognise them at such a special occasion.
The winners are:
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Ferrers Special Constabulary – Individual Award: Christine Smith, Gwent police. Christine has launched and run the ‘Making a Difference Project’, for children in her community to help reduce anti-social behaviour. She will now be rolling this project out across the force. The project has helped reduce anti-social behaviour.
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Ferrers Special Constabulary – Team Award: Wiltshire Specials team. The small team started working jointly with PCSOs in response to a growing anti-social behaviour problem with a group of 30-40 challenging youngsters, who were the cause of 12-15 calls to the station per evening. The Specials organised a monthly disco and various other events which focused on local schools. The team has contributed to reductions in anti-social incidents around the local school and area.
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Police Support Volunteer – Individual Award: Chris Channon – Nottinghamshire Police. The initial idea for Pegasus PIN number initiative was put forward by Chris, who has Cerebral Palsy, and had experienced problems when calling the force and dealing with officers in person. His idea was to create a way of making it easier for people with disabilities/vulnerabilities to call Nottinghamshire police. The initiative has been developed and introduced across all three emergency services in Nottinghamshire.
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Police Support Volunteer - Team Award: Met Police Visual Images Identification and Detection Office (VIIDO). The unique unit of volunteers had many and varied IT skills. The team all undertook specialist training from the Met Video Lab and started to deal with burglary, Criminal Damage, Vehicle Crime or “petty crime” CCTV footage, allowing regular officers to focus on riot images. In two years, the unit has dealt with 800 cases and saved more than 2,500 policing hours.
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Employer supported policing Award: Caerphilly County Borough Council – CSAS Community Safety Warden Scheme. The team of community safety wardens have been CSAS (Community Safety Accreditation Scheme) accredited since 2006. They have provided community policing support and good engagement with the local residents. As well as directly tackling enviro-crime issues, the team runs a Junior Community Safety Warden scheme in primary schools.