Amazing contribution of volunteers recognised at regional Citizens in Policing awards
The annual awards event, which was hosted by Dorset Police at the RNLI College in Poole on Sunday 16 October 2022, was attended by nominees from Avon and Somerset Police, British Transport Police, Devon & Cornwall Police, Gloucestershire Constabulary, Wiltshire Police and Dorset Police
Dorset Police Assistant Chief Constable Rachel Farrell and Regional Lead for Citizens in Policing T/Assistant Chief Constable David Minty opened the event. Other speakers included Tim Mann MBE and Dorset Police & Crime Commissioner David Sidwick.
Luke Taylor, of Devon & Cornwall Police, won Police Cadet of the Year. He has been a cadet since he was 13 when the Torbay Unit was first formed in 2018. Now that Luke has turned 18, he has become a Cadet Instructor and has applied to become a Cadet Leader. He has had the honour of being the unit’s first Head Cadet and has learnt many new skills, including teamwork, leadership, conflict management, facing personal fears and barriers, supporting others and first aid. He has helped with various policing operations including at cordons, the G7 summit and local public events.
The Special Constable of the Year award went to Special Sergeant Jazz Smart who has served with Gloucestershire Constabulary for seven and a half years in a range of roles, including response, neighbourhood, roads policing and the Child Abuse Investigation Team. She is also a qualified tutor and runs Op Disruptor – a Special Constabulary response to organised crime and drug dealing.
Other award winners included:
Police Support Volunteer of the Year: Rod Almidani who joined Dorset Police’s Positive Action team in January 2022 and has already undertaken a significant number of hours of duties engaging and supporting members of the Muslim community.
Citizens in Policing Innovation Award: Op Nexum – a Gloucestershire Constabulary six-week initiative which saw Special Constables taking to the county’s main road networks to use ANPR to tackle suspected county lines offences. Dorset Police’s Cadets received a highly commended certificate for its undercover Child Sexual Exploitation operation at known hotspot hotel across Bournemouth.
Police Cadet Team of the Year: Plymouth Volunteer Police Cadets, Devon & Cornwall Police, for supporting the local policing team to raise awareness about county lines, helping to locate a missing person, supporting a domestic abuse awareness team and the wider community of Keyham.
Police Support Volunteer Team of the Year: Restorative Justice Facilitators at Wiltshire Police for the work they have done to help people move forward after their lives during some of their most difficult times. Most of their volunteers have been supporting the service for over six years.
Special Constabulary Team of the Year: WAPO Team of Gloucestershire Constabulary. The team actively locate and arrest hard to find priority suspects and offenders to help free up time for their regular colleagues.
Chief Constable Scott Chilton said: “I am very proud that Dorset hosted this year’s awards. All our police staff volunteers, special constables or police cadets demonstrate amazing dedication and commitment to their communities, and the role they perform is essential to helping their police force deliver the very best
service to the public.
“These awards are about recognising the tremendous work they carry out every day and to thank them for their service. I know I speak for all chief constables when I say that we are very grateful for the time our volunteers give to policing.
“Across our region our Citizens in Policing teams dedicated almost 350,000 hours across a variety of roles over the last year and their positive influence will
continue to enable us to improve our service delivery to all our communities.”
Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner David Sidwick said: “The professionalism, dedication and commitment shown by police volunteers across the South West region is incredible.”
“As part of the Citizens in Policing programme, the extra added value volunteers bring to policing, through improving community engagement, increasing available resources and skillsets, and allowing officers and staff to focus on frontline duties is essential. The value of their work is not only reflected in the time spent serving the public, which stands at just under a phenomenal 350,000 hours, but it also represents over one million pounds worth of work across the whole of the South West area.
“The hours all police volunteers put in are truly appreciated and so I would like to simply say thank you for all you do; your hard work, dedication and commitment is sincerely valued and is never taken for granted.”
Recruitment for special constables launches on Monday 24 October 2022/ You can find out more about this role, as well as other volunteer and cadet roles by visiting: https://recruitment-dcp-dp.org/dorset-police-volunteers/#
Rod Almidani, Police Support Volunteer of the Year 2022.
