Dorset Police news site

Dorset Police has celebrated one of its Community Speed Watch volunteers 90^th birthday by presenting him with a certificate and card to thank him for the contribution he makes to improving road safety.

Chris Christie has been a member of Branksome Park’s Community Speed Watch group since 2019 and is one of a team of 12 volunteers who regularly give up their spare time to reduce speeding in the Branksome area of Poole.

He celebrated his 90^th birthday on Tuesday 3 May 2022 and to mark this special milestone, Sergeant Sophie Williams of Poole Neighbourhood Policing Team was joined by Brian Austin, Road Safety Operations Manager, and Mark Armstrong, Head of Road Safety at Dorset Road Safe, to present a birthday card, certificate for services to local policing and shield to Chris on behalf of Chief Constable Scott Chilton.

Community Speed Watch is run through Dorset Police and provides an opportunity for a team of 600 volunteers to work within their community to raise awareness of the dangers of speeding and to help control the problem locally.

Teams use radar detection devices to monitor drivers exceeding the speed limit at locations agreed with Dorset Police. This equipment does not record an image, so the volunteers record the vehicle details and pass these to the Force for their vehicle and driver information to be checked before a warning letter is issued.

Chris, who worked for 40 years in the Royal Air Force, said he was ‘flummoxed’ by the presentation: “I certainly wasn’t expecting this.”

He added: “I enjoy volunteering for Community Speed Watch and wanted to be involved because I wanted to do something for the community.

“It really makes a difference for us to be seen more than anything and I really do think it helps to reduce the average speeder and puts people off speeding in the first place.

“I don’t think turning 90 will impact on my volunteering and plan to continue!”

Brian Austin said: “Our speed watch volunteers provide additional eyes and ears in our communities to help us enhance our intelligence and better understand locations vulnerable to drivers taking a risk with their speed.

“Chris is our oldest Community Speed Watch volunteer and his dedication to his community in Branksome is incredible. He is one of an army of volunteers across Dorset who play an important role in helping to make our roads safer.”

Chief Constable Scott Chilton said: “I am extremely grateful to all our volunteers who give up their valuable time each week to help make Dorset a safe county for everyone.

“It is remarkable that Chris is such an active member of Community Speed Watch at the age of 90 and I would like to thank him for the service he has carried out to help protect our road users. I wish him a fantastic 90^th birthday.”

To find out more about Community Speed Watch, please visit: www.dorsetroadsafe.org.uk/enforcement-operations/community-speed-watch/

If you would like to learn more about volunteering with Dorset Police, please visit: www.recruitment-dcp-dp.org/dorset-police-volunteers/