Outstanding contributions by Wiltshire police officers and staff recognised at awards ceremony
The contributions and selfless actions of Wiltshire police officers and staff were formally recognised at our awards ceremony last night (30/11).
Among those who were honoured at the event, held virtually, were those who have dedicated years of service to the organisation and others who have shown exemplary professionalism and quick thinking to protect members of the public.
Recipients include an officer, who was off duty at the time, coming to the aid of a member of the public - rapidly administering life-saving CPR.
Others have been recognised for their long service, during which they have shown professionalism and dedication to duty to support Wiltshire Police in serving our communities, through inspirational leadership, exemplary individual action and the embodiment of the core values of the organisation.
Speaking at the ceremony - also attended by Vice Lord-Lieutenant Mr William Wyldbore-Smith and the High Sheriff of Wiltshire Sir Charles Hobhouse - Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Kier Pritchard paid glowing tribute to those being honoured.
He said: “Having the opportunity to say thank you and to recognise the achievements of officers and staff is one of my favourite parts of my job. It is always a huge privilege for me to join you and your families and loved ones and say thank you for the outstanding contribution you have made.
“Policing is a vocation, a service people join to make a difference and to protect people. The last 18 months have tested everyone’s strength in all walks of life. Our public have seen from our officers the courage, the heart and the resilience required to continue to serve.”
Please find attached a list of some of the officers, staff and volunteers recognised at the awards ceremony. This is not a complete list of everyone who attended, as some recipients opted for their award not to be publicised.
There is a note next to the name of those who have opted for no publicity.
If you would like to speak to any of those listed please email PressHQ@wiltshire.police.uk outlining the name of the person you would like to interview.
Photographs of recipients are available on request.
Long Service Awards:
Sgt Amy Hardman - Staff Officer to ACC Debs Smith
Sergeant Russell Griffin - Staff Officer to the Chief Constable
Charlotte McVey - Business Intelligence Analyst
Penny Fuller - Head of Occupational Health
Dawn Young - Head of Finance
Detective Zoe Rattue-Spicer
Inspector Paul Saunders
Inspirational Leadership:
Detective Constable Clare Sylvester Wyness
Chief Constable’s Certificate of Excellence:
PC Andrew Lacey
Awards Ceremony – 30 November 2021
Long Service Awards
Sergeant Amy Hardman Staff Officer to ACC Debs Smith
Amy joined Wiltshire Police in December 2000 aged 19. Growing up in Salisbury she chose to be posted to Swindon and learned a lot in those 4 years from all the experienced people around her.
Amy then spent the next few years working on the Youth Offending Team in Salisbury alongside several partner agencies and interacting with young people.
When Amy was pregnant with her first child, she was placed in the performance department, spending a brief time within the intelligence department, before being posted to Chippenham Response.
When Amy’s second child arrived, she successfully applied for a permanent role in the intelligence department in Salisbury.
In 2014 Amy moved on to the Trowbridge neighbourhood policing team.
Amy returned to Swindon in 2017 on her promotion to Sergeant and stayed here until moving to HQ as Strategic Support Officer to the County Hub Superintendent, and later to the Staff Officer role for the Chief Constable and then to ACC Smith – where Amy is today.
Amy has many career highlights, one which stands out is when she first joined Wiltshire Police and was the youngest person in the force. Her first ‘big job’ was during her two-week probationer attachment to traffic. Amy spotted an out-of-date tax disc which led to a vehicle stop – Amy says: “Coppers’ intuition told us something wasn’t quite right with the driver behaving in a ‘furtive’ manner, and we ended up with more than £5k worth of cannabis being seized from the boot.
She said: “The on-call Superintendent was adamant that it must have been as a result of being tipped off - the duty DS took ages to convince him it was just a routine traffic stop. You just never know what this job is going to uncover next.
“I have worked with some amazing people during my career - people who support each other like a family would at some of the most challenging of times.
“I wouldn’t have joined the Police though if it wasn’t for my role model at home, so I should mention my dad here really - Retired PC 724 Scott Freeman, thank you!"
Sergeant Russell Griffin - Staff Officer to the Chief Constable
Russell joined Wiltshire Police in December 2000 and has been an operational police officer for almost all his 21 years of service. Russell joined Wiltshire Police to serve and protect the public as an operational front-line officer and has enjoyed every moment predominately serving the public in the south of the county.
Following his probationary period at Salisbury, Russell was posted to Tisbury as a rural beat officer where he learnt the true meaning of rural community policing.
Russell recalls one evening when he was the only officer on duty in Tisbury. A large lorry stopped in Tisbury High Street and 15 asylum seekers jumped out of the back. A large number of villagers helped Russell detain the group before support arrived from Salisbury.
After a period of time in Tisbury, Russell returned to Salisbury to join a newly formed Community Tasking Team, a proactive and robust team responding to significant community issues and focusing on prolific and high threat offenders.
He was also part of the Force’s Police Support Unit’s operations being deployed locally and throughout the country.
Russell was given a response team at Salisbury to lead as the Acting Sergeant. In 2010, as a newly promoted Sergeant, he was posted to Warminster where again he did what enjoys the most - leading a team of officers within response and community policing.
Russell then completed three years as a custody officer at both Melksham and Swindon custody units before returning to the south of the county and leading a response team at Amesbury and Salisbury.
In 2018 Russell was attached to the Salisbury Poisonings operations as the briefing Sergeant with responsibility for 80 mutual aid officers from across the country who were assisting with cordons and the investigation.
He then began taking on many duties as the Acting Duty Inspector for the County and learning the skills for the next step in promotion.
Last year Russell was successful in the Inspector’s exam and will look to take the inspector board and process in January. In June this year he led a team of officers at the G7 Summit in Cornwall.
Russell is currently in the role as the Chief Constable’s staff officer and is enjoying the insight into the strategic and demanding schedules of the executive leadership team and having the opportunity to working closely with the Chief Constable and his office.
He said: “I am incredibly proud to be a Wiltshire Police Officer and look forward to the coming years within the force.”
Charlotte McVey Business Intelligence Analyst
Charlotte began her career with Wiltshire Police in March 2001 as a Collision Administrator with the Collision Stats team where she reported and processed collision data. Charlotte also trained new recruits on the national form.
Charlotte then moved to the role of Crime Stats Administrator.
From here Charlotte then became a Crime Auditor, later to be promoted to a senior Crime Auditor, and conducted the relevant audits to ensure compliance and accurate recording in accordance with the Home Office counting rules.
In 2011 Charlotte started her role as a Business Intelligence Analyst and is currently working as a Senior Business Intelligence Analyst – a role which assists strategic and operational decision making.
Charlotte’s career highlights include her role during the Covid-19 pandemic when she has been involved in providing analysis and information to the People Cell and assisting with the data around the vaccination progress.
Charlotte has also supported work a number of high profile operations
Penny Fuller Head of Occupational Health
Head of Occupational Health Services, Penny Fuller joined Wiltshire police in October 2000 as the Lead of Occupational health services and was employed to develop an Occupational Health service for Wiltshire police.
Penny qualified as an Occupational health practitioner in 2000 and gained a specialist practitioner qualification in 2005. She then went on to complete an MA in psychotherapy in 2010.
Recognising the need for a framework to support police officers and staff that are exposed to traumatic events Penny implemented the Trauma risk incident management process in 2005.
She completed a Postgraduate certificate in Education in 2013 and used this training to develop a comprehensive occupational health training package incorporating physical and mental health training.
Penny is the National Chair for the Occupational Health Nurse Advisors for the Police Service (OHNAPS) and helped develop and implement the National Occupational Health standards within policing in the United Kingdom in 2019.
Penny has also worked with the policing ministers to raise the profile of Occupational Health in policing.
Other highlights include supporting our response to the Salisbury Poisonings - managing a wide scale incident that positioned the health of all our staff and families as a priority. And most recently working within a clinical team during a pandemic
Penny said: “My first 10 to 15 years being more involved in the clinical role, I would say holds the most precious memories, some incredibly challenging, others very sad but thankfully many happy ones too.”
Head of Finance - Dawn Young
Head of Finance Dawn Young joined Wiltshire Police from the West of England Regional Development Agency in March 2000.
Dawn’s first role was as a Project Accountant with a new unit set up to review the whole force and find more effective and efficient ways of working.
Dawn then became the Management Accountant for the Force, being responsible for building the staffing budget and budget monitoring.
In 2006 the devolved Finance department was centralised into the HQ function we have today and as Accountancy Manager Dawn jointly led the Accountancy section before becoming Head of Finance in 2015.
Detective Zoe Rattue-Spicer
Detective Constable Zoe Rattue Spicer initially served 18 months with Wiltshire Police as a special constable before becoming a regular police officer in January 2001 based in Salisbury.
During her probationary period Zoe worked in Salisbury City Centre as part of a uniformed patrol targeting shoplifters.
When working on response in Salisbury Zoe completed her response driver training which she really enjoyed and also completed attachments with the traffic department and CID.
In 2008 Zoe spent time with the Domestic Violence Unit,working mainly with victims of abuse and supporting them to move away from their abusive relationship and in 2010 she completed an attachment with Child Protection.
In 2011 back with the Salisbury Response Team, Zoe dealt with a wide range of incidents from herding cattle in the dark back to their field across a main road, dealing with a large group of drunk men after kicking out time to talking to a victim of a serious sexual assault.
In 2012, she joined the Tasking Team targeting prolific offenders, in particular, those involved with drug dealing.
Zoe went back to Child Protection in 2014 dealing with offenders and victims, bringing offenders to justice and supporting child victims. It was during her time with Child Protection that she successfully completed her course to become a Detective.
She took on her current role with MOSOVO (management of sexual or violent offenders) in 2016, managing registered offenders as part of the public protection unit. Her role concentrates on the rehabilitation of offenders and investigation of further offences committed by offenders and returning them to prison.
Zoe says “I have enjoyed all of my time so far and feel that I am suited to my current role as after several years I am still thoroughly enjoying my work and don’t feel the need to move on yet. The only thing I do miss is response driving when I was a uniformed officer. This was a highlight for me.”
Inspector Paul Saunders
Paul’s career with Wiltshire Police started on 5 March 2001 when he joined Swindon Response Team 5. After a few months Paul moved onto the East Sector neighbourhood policing team in Swindon as a beat officer.
After three and a half years in the role, Paul became a Temporary Sergeant on Team 4 Response and was promoted to Sergeant in December 2006 and posted to custody.
After 12 months Paul moved to become Sergeant to Team 2 in Swindon and then Town Centre Sergeant on Swindon Central NPT in 2009.
Paul was promoted to Inspector in 2011, becoming the Force Liaison Inspector working with Swindon Borough Council and the Community Safety Partnership. He was also a Police Support Unit (PSU) Inspector and Bronze Public Order Commander.
In 2014, he returned to Central NPT in Swindon and in 2015 he took on the role of Force Incident Manager and became an Initial Tactical Firearms Commander.
In 2017, Paul was the lead for the force in the implementation of Operation Cobb – policing the badger cull – working collaboratively with our forces across the South West Region.
And in January 2018 he became the first Wiltshire Inspector to cover a shift as part of the Triforce Specialist Operations Unit.
With the dissolution of TriForce in April 2019, Paul became the Firearms lead for Wiltshire police and was responsible for implementing the return of firearms operations to Wiltshire Police and also overseeing the protection operation for the Duchess of Cornwall.
Paul has several career highlights, the first being his time as Town Centre Sergeant and tackling violent crime in the nighttime economy and overseeing the return of Firearms to Wiltshire following the dissolution of Tri Force and building a department which has provided a better service to Wiltshire.
He paid tribute to retired Chief Inspector Madge Lynch: “She was an incredible mentor and role model to me when I was the Town Centre Sgt and she was my NPT Inspector.
“She gave me the freedom to make the role my own, guiding me when I needed it. She had significant faith in what I was trying to achieve and taught me a lot about how to work with staff and partners, shaping me into the officer I have become.”
Detective Constable Clare Sylvester Wyness - Inspirational Leadership Award
Detective Constable Clare Sylvester-Wyness joined CID 16 years ago and during this time she has consistently demonstrated passion, dedication, drive and tenacity.
Clare is an inspirational leader and has achieved countless commendable results with many complex cases that she has progressed through the criminal justice system. She is held in high regard by all her colleagues within the Force, as well as the community of barristers and legal executives she often works alongside.
During her career Clare tutored many up and coming detectives, and the effort she has put into this additional role has been exceptional. Everyone who has been fortunate enough to have Clare share her experience and wealth of knowledge has continued with their career fully equipped with every level of competence required for the role.
Clare has always been completely dedicated to ensuring victims of crime receive the service they deserve. She inspires colleagues on a daily basis to strive for excellence and her dedication to the role has seen her continuously go above and beyond what is expected of her.
She displays the highest level of professional and personal values. Her leadership is a true embodiment of the Force values and behaviours and is an inspiration to others.
PC Andrew Lacey - Chief Constable’s Certificate of Excellence
Police Constable Andrew Lacey is awarded a Chief Constable’s Certificate of Excellence for his swift actions in helping save a man’s life by providing CPR.
On 9 March 2021, PC Lacey was off-duty and visiting his grandparents in Swindon when he noticed on the opposite side of the carriageway a man collapsed on the floor and a woman in a distressed state needing help.
PC Lacey immediately ran over to the scene, rang 999 and after realising the man was not breathing, he used his first-aid training to begin administering CPR.
When the paramedics arrived, PC Lacey continued to perform CPR whilst the patient was assessed, and a decision was made to deploy a defibrillator. The man reacted positively to the defibrillator and his condition began to stabilise. He was then taken to GWH, and his condition was described as ‘non-life threatening.’
Chief Constable Kier Pritchard said: “PC Lacey, you showed great personal responsibility through your selfless actions and stayed calm and professional in what must have been an extremely stressful situation. You utilised your training perfectly and there is no doubt your actions saved this man’s life, and you should feel immensely proud.
“Thank you for your exceptional professionalism in providing lifesaving CPR during the challenging and concerning environment of the Covid-19 pandemic. Your actions displayed the Force values and behaviours, and this is amplified further by the fact you were off-duty at the time."