Police service honours extraordinary people for their outstanding acts of bravery

The police service will honour members of the public for remarkable acts of bravery at the ACPO National Public Bravery Awards tonight in Harrogate.

The awards, which trace their history back to 1965, are to recognise members of the public for actions which support the police in preserving law and order. This year’s award ceremony will acknowledge 89 people for their courage and bravery.

This year, for the first time, police forces in Scotland have also put forward nominees making the event truly national in scope.

Honorary Awards Secretary, Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes, said:

“These awards give the police service the opportunity to formally acknowledge those altruistic people who have intervened to help others when the worst in society crossed their path.

“Each and every day, police forces rely on members of the public to support them in maintaining law and order. Tonight we have recognised extraordinary people, for some of the most outstanding acts of bravery, who put themselves at considerable risk to come to the aid of other people in need.

“We are delighted to be honoring these individuals, who are of all ages and come from all walks of life. As a consequence of their courage to intervene, lives have been saved and criminals sentenced to a total of more than 200 years behind bars. Their actions are to be commended and we thank them for their selfless acts.”

This year’s award winners are from 21 force areas and include 14 gold medals and 19 silver medals. A further 56 certificates of commendation will also be awarded, with the recipients to receive them at separate local ceremonies.

The force areas with award recipients, including commendations, are: Durham, Essex, Greater Manchester Police, Hampshire, Kent, Leicestershire, Lothian and Borders, Metropolitan Police Service, Merseyside, North Wales, Northamptonshire, Northern, Police Service of Northern Ireland, South Wales, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Strathclyde, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley and, West Yorkshire.

For information of award recipients please contact the individual force in your area. The forces with members of the public who were honoured at the ceremony are listed above.

The Police Public Bravery Awards were instituted in 1965 as Provincial Police Awards by members of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), who wished to recognise outstanding cases of assistance given to the police by members of the public in helping to keep law and order.

The Binney Award was instituted in 1947 in honour of Captain Ralph Binney RN who lost his life in 1944 when he made a single-handed attempt to prevent the escape of ‘smash and grab’ thieves in the City of London.

The Gold award takes the form of a gold-plated, sterling silver medal, mounted in a case, and a certificate signed by the President of ACPO or ACPOS – dependent on which force has nominated the recipient.

Silver award winners are presented with a sterling silver medal, mounted in a case, and a certificate signed by the President of ACPO or ACPOS – again dependent on which force has nominated the recipient.

For more information please contact:

ACPO Press Office
Association of Chief Police Officers
e: press.office@acpo.pnn.police.uk