Force detectives honoured at national awards ceremony

16 October 2018

Two Leicestershire detectives were among those honoured at this year’s Police Federation National Detectives’ Forum (PFNDF) awards ceremony.

DCs Tom Butler and Sarah Jones were nominated for awards in recognition of their excellent contribution to detective work within the Force.

And while they narrowly missed out on an award, Leicestershire Police Federation secretary Matt Robinson said they should be proud of their achievements.

“They have shown true commitment to their roles and truly deserved their efforts to be recognised at a national level,” says Matt, a former detective himself.

 “The detective awards are one of the key events in the Police Federation year and highlight the fantastic work detectives are doing in day in, day out as they serve their communities. Due to the Government’s cuts programme, they, like many other parts of the police service, have found themselves stretched to the limit but they remain dedicated to fighting crime.”

Awards presented at the annual ceremony included Detective Investigation of the Year which went to a team of Hertfordshire Constabulary detectives for uncovering a global paedophile ring.  Operation Pendent was the largest and most complex undertaken by the Force’s child online safeguarding team with the ring leader receiving nine life sentences for his involvement the crimes and his accomplices also getting  lengthy sentences.

Other awards were Services to Detectives, the technology-based Smarter Detective, New Trainee Detective of the Year and a new Regional Recognition Award.

Ahead of the awards ceremony which was held in Manchester, detectives from across England and Wales – including a delegation from Leicestershire - also attended a two-day seminar organised by the PFNDF.

Among the speakers at the seminar were DI Tim Hurley and DS Krista Thompson of Thames Valley Police who were part of the team to win the Detective Investigation of the Year award last year after leading a £1 billion corruption investigation.

Paula Craig talked about her work as a detective in the Met after being paralysed from the waist down in a car accident and highlighted that disability need not be a barrier in policing.

In an interesting input to the seminar, former computer hacker Cal Leeming, who now runs a cyber security consultancy, warned detectives that policing needs to change its culture if it is to attract and retain the most talented cyber experts in the service.

“Police forces need recognise that their regimented nature can put people off. There needs to be scope for force to be more flexible to allow people to be themselves,” he said, “They also have to accept that people with these skillsets want to be challenged and they may quickly be jaded and want to move on after a few years.”

More details about the awards and seminar will appear in the winter edition of Upbeat which is out in December.

This year’s winners.