Outstanding work highlighted in GMP Excellence Awards

Date published: 22 February 2012

The outstanding work and commitment of officers and staff from Greater Manchester Police was celebrated at the Chief Constable's Excellence Awards on Friday 17 February 2012.

More than 220 officers and staff gathered to celebrate the fantastic work going on throughout the Force as the Chief Constable presented awards to the winners.

The award for Outstanding Communication went to the Bolton Division “I'm not laughing”, Disability Hate campaign. This nationally recognised campaign has been raising awareness and helping change behaviour towards people with disabilities.

The prestigious ceremony took place at Manchester Town Hall and recognised both individuals and teams in categories ranging from Brave Officer of the Year to Outstanding Leadership.

The Chief Constable’s Excellence Awards are sponsored by local and national organisations to celebrate excellence, reward innovation and recognise individual contributions to public service.

Among the recipients were Constable’s Tony Sheridan and Karl Jackson who won brave officers of the year after confronting an aggressive group of males, one of whom was armed with a knife. The officers were off duty at the time and had not protective equipment or back up.

Sergeant Richard Warden won the Gloria Oates Award for Outstanding Leadership for his hard working ethos and exceptionally high standards that is fully admired by his staff. Richard and his team have seized over half a million pounds, 17 cars, an extraordinary amount of drugs and over 180 criminals have been arrested.

Constable Andrew Wright won the award for Citizen Focus for going above and beyond to create the ‘Nowt2Do’ project. This project, run by Andrew and a group of volunteers, provides positive activities for young people to keep them off the streets and away from crime.

Joy Harkness received the Police Staff Employee of the Year award for her outstanding service as part of the Crime Scene Investigation Team. Her hard work and determination has directly led to significant reductions in burglary and vehicle crime.

PCSO Mark Detheridge won the award for Individual Achievement for showing commitment, enthusiasm, drive and determination to improve the quality of life for the residents in Oldham.

The award for Outstanding Communication went to the Bolton’s Division “I'm not laughing”, Disability Hate campaign. This nationally recognised campaign has been raising awareness and helping change behaviour towards people with disabilities.

The Xcalibre Task Force won the award for Partnership Working after helping to reduce gang related offending and safeguarding young people vulnerable to gang activity.

The award for outstanding Team Performance went to the ANPR Intercept & Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit and the Command & Control Operators in the Operational Communications Branch for their dealings with Auto Number Plate Recognition (ANPR). Both halves of this nomination excel in their areas of work, united by their success in ANPR. The ability of this inter-force team working is contributing to vision of GMP to be the most effective police force in the country.

Other winners on the night included Former Constable Michael Kennedy who was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award, PCSO Mark Safranauskas recipient of the Police Community Support Officer of the Year Award, and the Rochdale Community Cohesion Team who won the Diversity in Action Award.

Chief Constable Peter Fahy said: “I am hugely proud to be the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police because of officers and staff like these who put their heart and soul into what they do and are there to support members of the public at the most difficult times of their lives.

”The officers and staff nominated for awards should be extremely proud of themselves for their continual efforts and first-class service they provide to not only members of the public, but also to their colleagues. They are all winners and I congratulate them on their achievements.”