Awards made at virtual ceremonies

The long service of officers and police staff has been recognised at virtual award ceremonies, which was hosted by Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer earlier this month.

He also presented a Royal Humane Society award to a member of Sidmouth Lifeboat, for his prompt actions when a 14-year-old Russian girl became unwell.

The awards were presented at two sessions, with citations read out by Sandy Brooks, head of contact service at Devon and Cornwall Police, at the first session and Superintendent Adrian Leisk read the citations in the second.

In all, 27 awards were made.

Some of the citations are below.


Royal Humane Society Award

Mr Martin Barnard

Mr Martin Barnard, of Sidmouth Lifeboat crew, received a Royal Humane Society Award for his prompt actions after a 14-year-old Russian girl became unwell on Sidmouth beach.

She was with a group of international students with Sidmouth International School and had collapsed.

While she was being cared for by schoolteachers and other members of the public, Martin and a colleague, made their way to the scene with a resuscitation kit containing oxygen, which was administered immediately. Martin assisted with CPR whilst the emergency services arrived.

The patient was flown to hospital by air ambulance and later transferred to Bristol Children’s Hospital, where she was placed in an induced coma, but within two days her condition improved.

The consultant in charge of her care made it clear that the timely and professional actions of those on the beach not only saved her life but have also ensured that she is able to continue living a normal life.

The other individuals have also been awarded RHS awards but were not able to attend the ceremony and will be presented at a future date.


Long Service Awards

Insp Paul LAITY

Paul left school aged 16, with nine GCSEs and worked in the banking sector for 11 years before joining Devon and Cornwall Police in 2000.

He completed his probation in Ivybridge learning the ropes from some very experienced PCs and DCs.

Paul was promoted to sergeant in 2006 and posted to Charles Cross Custody, where he enjoyed the buzz of being in control of one of the busiest custody centres in the country at that time. 

He received a Commanders’ Commendation for leadership and conduct having been first on scene for a major incident on New Year’s Eve of 2015. This was a fatal fire within a block of flats in Union Street and was a very difficult incident to manage amongst everything else that was happening across the city on one of the busiest nights of the year.

In 2016, he became the Diverse Communities Sergeant in Plymouth where he worked closely with many hard to reach groups and many other partners and charities. Under the supervision of Mr Boulting, Paul helped set the hate crime strategy for the Basic Command Unit (BCU). 

Paul received another Commanders’ Commendation for dedication to duties and professionalism within his role.

He was promoted to the rank of Inspector in 2017 and became the Critical Incident Manager for B section Response within Plymouth BCU and this remains his current role.


Insp Emma FOX

Emma joined Devon and Cornwall Police, becoming the third successive generation of the Fox family to serve in the force, following in the footsteps of her grandfather Tom and her father Ian.

Emma gained the PMAS Book Prize for the most promising student at Cwmbran Police College and also the Devon and Cornwall Police Trafford trophy on completion of her initial training.

After two years working on patrol in St Austell, Emma passed the Part 1 Sergeants’ Examination scoring the top mark in the country and was promoted to sergeant in 2005.

Following two periods of maternity leave between 2011 and 2014, Emma developed a maternity support scheme, an initiative that earned her a Superintendent’s Certificate. This work was testament to Emma’s passion for promoting staff welfare and she has gone on to become both a TRIM assessor and a peer supporter.

Emma integrated herself into the St Columb and Newquay communities for over seven years whilst working as their Neighbourhood Team Leader, a role she found highly rewarding.

In 2017, Emma was promoted to inspector, heading up Camborne Custody initially and then Newquay Custody.

In the last year she has transferred into the role of Strategic Support Inspector for custody where she is playing an invaluable role in developing relationships with partners and implementing processes for the continuing safe and quality care of all those who experience the custody environment.

Emma openly shares her love and personal pride of being a police officer which is as strong today as when she first joined. That spirit of policing, public service and wanting to make a difference truly runs through her veins and DNA.
 

DC Jon HARCOURT

Jon joined Devon and Cornwall Police in December 2000, completed his initial training at Cwmbran, Wales and was posted to St Austell Response for his probation period.

He worked throughout Cornwall and was keen to get involved in as many aspects of policing as he could including Police Support Unit (PSU), local neighbourhood, drugs evidencing and tutoring to name but a few.

Within a few years, Jon was approached to join the newly formed Targeted Policing Team (TPT) and was soon actively targeting criminals and involved in major investigations.

His first significant investigation on TPT was as the OIC for a £30,000 cannabis grown in Wadebridge, which also resulted in the seizure of a substantial amount of cash.

Becoming involved in various types of investigations, it soon dawned on Jon that a life in CID might be worth considering, which led to him joining.

Jon has investigated crimes in 37 of the 42 Forces across the country and a sample of his investigations involve playing tug of war with a wanted male through a window with uniformed officers, respectfully informing a Judge that he was not ‘Bill Oddie’ when asked what type of bird a colleague had stood on during a covert operation for Hunt Saboteurs, and as the night DC, arresting three males for murder, alone, two hours after the murder occurred.

Despite being a Detective, he has always kept connected to his uniform roots and has policed in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, London and Bristol in a PSU compacity including as a PSU medic. Jon is a well-respected and regarded police officer, known for his positive attitude and refreshing sense of humour.


Police staff member Lucy PITTS

Lucy joined the force in July 2000 as a clerk/typist in the ICT department but very quickly she became a project support officer within the same department before, in 2002, beginning a 12-month secondment to the Programme Support Office as a programme officer.

She assisted with the introduction of the Civil Contingencies Act into the force and something that Lucy has become an expert in over the years, focusing on the importance of the relationship between other agencies and the police.

Lucy worked on a wide variety of critical projects from Devon and Cornwall becoming a standalone force in the face of the Government’s agenda to regionalise forces, Women in Policing Conferences and being responsible for creating the public facing Policing Plan and annual reports, working closely with the then Police Authority and Executive Office.

In 2008, she became the Emergency Planning Manager in the Contingency Planning Unit. Lucy has witnessed many changes within this department including restructures and alignment with Dorset Police in the Strategic Alliance.

Lucy has been involved with a huge number of large-scale multi-agency exercises over the years. One of her roles is to lead on the Strategic Coordination Centre (SCC) Plan to ensure Multi Agency Co-ordination for major incidents.

In consultation, whilst preparing this citation, the common theme from everyone, without exception, is that Lucy is an incredibly committed, hardworking and professional individual who has a wealth of knowledge and experience in Civil Contingencies, planning and organisational learning.

She has huge respect from both her peers and all members of the Executive. Importantly she is held in the same high regard from all the partners in the Local Resilience Forum, with whom she has worked over a huge list of major incidents over the years.


Police staff member Laura Shaw

Laura joined Devon and Cornwall Constabulary in July 2000 as a call handler and following her training, Laura commenced work as a call handler at Crownhill control room and after a year secured a key worker role.

This entailed Laura taking the helm of a Section, as the supervisor. Laura enjoyed this work immensely, but as is sometimes the case, Laura’s key worker role was disestablished in 2003, which offered her the chance to share her skills and knowledge with another part of the organisation.

Laura was successful in applying for a Scenes of Crime role as a vehicle technician, before becoming a Junior Scenes of Crime Officer (SOCO).  This was a job full of variety and Laura would attend crime scenes ranging from road traffic collisions to murders, and everything in between.

In 2012, Laura applied to move to the Alliance Disclosure Team as a Disclosure Officer and has remained in this role.

Laura enjoys the varied and challenging work undertaken within ADT.

Laura has undertaken all her roles within Devon and Cornwall Police with great professionalism and commitment.  She has gained a great knowledge of the organisation over the years, which has held her in good stead within her current role as an Alliance Disclosure Officer.

Laura’s straight-talking nature has made her a much-loved character within the team. She continues to be an asset to the department and organisation. Laura is a proud Plymothian and we have pride in how she serves her community, through the work she has done and continues to do.


Insp Martin TREGASKES

Martin joined Devon and Cornwall Police in 2000, having previously served in an accountants’ office, practising tax law.

Posted to Plymouth in 2001, he spent the next six years between Neighbourhood and Response enjoying the cut and thrust of operational front-line policing.

In 2007 he was promoted to Sergeant and posted as a Comms Skipper, returning to response in Plymouth in 2010.

Those that have worked with him have nothing but admiration and gratitude for the support he gave his team describing him as an exceptional skipper.

After a short period within Local Investigation, he was posted to Business Change where he learned new skills and made new friendships.

Martin is an operational copper at heart, and he was soon drawn back to Plymouth taking up the post of Critical Incident Manager as acting and temporary Inspector.

In 2017 he went to South Devon as a substantive Inspector and in 2020 he moved to his current role as the Force Drug and Alcohol Harm Reduction Inspector within the Prevention Department. A new challenge and certainly outside of his comfort zone, he has already shown his ability to lead across the force area within a complex area of policing.

His friends and colleagues describe him as a gentleman, hard-working, kind, supportive, articulate, clever and someone you can always trust.

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