Dedicated officers were honoured at a night celebrating policing in Hertfordshire.
Officers, staff and volunteers came together with Chief Constable Charlie Hall, his leadership team and local dignitaries, for the annual Chief Constable Awards at Tewinbury Farm Hotel.
“This evening is absolutely the highlight of the constabulary year and it is our opportunity to thank so many of you for what you do day in, day out.”
The respective award winners were:
- Commitment to Health and Wellbeing Award: Detective Sergeant Katie Stevens from the Joint Child Protection Investigation Team (JCPIT), based in Hatfield.
- Investigator of the Year Award: Detective Inspector Justine Jenkins from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit.
- Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) of the Year Award: PCSO Supervisor Samantha Griffin based in Welwyn Hatfield.
- Neighbourhood Policing Officer of the Year Award: PC Fiona Hitchcock from the St Albans Neighbourhood Policing Team.
- Response Officer of the Year Award: PC Esa Kar from the Hatfield Intervention Team.
- Leadership Excellence of the Year Award: Sergeant James Wingate from the Hatfield Intervention Team.
- Team of the Year Award: Hostage and Crisis Negotiator Cadre.
- Unsung Hero Award: The constabulary’s team of personal assistants.
Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathan Ash-Edwards was attending his first annual awards with the constabulary. He said: “The absolute highlight of my first few months in office has been seeing and learning about what you do protecting the public and keeping Hertfordshire a safe county.
"I know you do that work in an increasingly unforgiving environment and media lens.
"From myself and on behalf of the communities of Hertfordshire I want to say thank you for all that you do.”
The awards night was held at Tewinbury Farm Hotel on Wednesday, November 6 with volunteer police cadets welcoming finalists and their loved ones.
Chief Constable’s Annual Awards winners
Commitment to Health and Wellbeing
Detective Sergeant Katie Stevens from the Joint Child Protection Investigation Team (JCPIT), based in Hatfield.
Detective Sergeant Katie Stevens is a Wellbeing Champion who goes above and beyond for her colleagues every day.
To her credit, Katie has supported numerous colleagues over the past year, often meeting them in her own personal time at different locations across the county.
Katie also helped organise a welfare training day with the Local Crime Unit (LCU) and Scorpion in Hertsmere, where she was previously based.
Highly emotionally intelligent, Katie is always looking to better her understanding of wellbeing.
What she has demonstrated in the past year alone has inspired others around her to undertake wellbeing training or even just open up about their struggles. Without her, the constabulary’s wellbeing would not be where it is today.
Investigator of the Year
Detective Inspector Justine Jenkins from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit.
Detective Inspector Justine Jenkins is regarded as one of the finest senior investigating officers across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire and beyond.
In the past decade on the Major Crime Unit (MCU) she has led more than 40 murder investigations as well as many serious and complex crime investigations.
Tenacious and hardworking, one of Justine’s notable investigations this year was Op Reactivate. This relates to the horrific sexual assaults of teenage girls 20 years ago in Harpenden.
Over the previous 10 years she had regularly reviewed the evidence hoping that forensic advances would provide DNA opportunities. When the breakthrough happened, a suspect was identified.
He was subsequently convicted of numerous offences against two now adult women. Op Reactive was showcased in a BBC documentary series and more than two million viewers tuned in to see Justine and her team bring a predatory offender to justice.
Op Telomer involved the kidnap of a Chinese national by a Chinese organised crime group (OCG) at Brocket Hall golf course near Welwyn Garden City. Justine’s investigation identified high level criminality involving millions of pounds in cash, property, vehicles and illegal foreign nationals.
The victim was kept in a cage, tortured and was close to handing over £10 million when an early arrest potentially saved his life. One man was convicted and a further six fled the country and are no longer able to commit crime in the UK.
Op Shant was the investigation into the murder of a woman whose body was found near Baldock. Identification was an initial challenge but once known, Justine and the team quickly built up a hypothesis that the victim had been murdered by a man who she knew through work. An offender was convicted and jailed for 20 years.
Student Officer of the Year
PC Beth Corcoran from the Stevenage Intervention Team.
PC Beth Corcoran is described as "an outstanding officer", and her performance way exceeds expectations in terms of what you would expect from someone with her length of service.
Beth brings to policing a wealth of experience, including an extended period spent working as a secondary school teacher. She is compassionate, caring and has a victim-focused approach.
Beth has a Prevention First led approach and is always considering what more can be done to safeguard a victim or protect a vulnerable person. Confident in her ability, Beth will take the lead in a difficult situation and within a few weeks of service stepped up to support a vulnerable missing person who had just been found, showing huge levels of empathy and kindness.
In 2024, Beth was nominated for the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s (NPCC) Response Officer of the Year. Despite an already busy working life, Beth has taken on extra responsibilities, including becoming a single point of contact for dealing with dangerous dogs.
She also volunteered to become Op Vigilant trained and has participated in plain clothes patrols to improve safety around the nighttime economy for women and girls.
Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) of the Year
PCSO Supervisor Samantha Griffin based in Welwyn Hatfield.
During this time she has built up trust, respect and affection from the community that she works in.
Sam comes in to work every day with enthusiasm to serve the public and is a much-loved visible presence in her area. If there’s an issue in her area, Sam knows about it and will be able to talk to residents about what is being done to tackle it.
She has built great working relationships with key partners such as the parish council, Hatfield House and the rural communities. She organised a successful Barn Meet which bought farmers and landowners together with partner agencies and rural crime experts to discuss issues affecting them.
An "exemplary PCSO", Sam is highly respected by her team and was recently promoted to the PCSO Supervisor role, which she embraced immediately.
She also receives high praise from those she works with outside of the organisation including local schools where she runs the popular Mini Police scheme. These events have played a key part in Sam building up early relationships with children living in her area, so that they recognise her as a friendly and approachable figure.
Sam is also trained in delivering water safety training to children in schools and regularly organises and delivers these sessions alongside the fire service during the summer months.
Neighbourhood Policing Officer of the Year
PC Fiona Hitchcock from the St Albans Neighbourhood Policing Team.
PC Fiona Hitchcock was nominated for her hard work and proactivity in finding solutions to local issues, as well as building excellent relationships with two local mental health inpatient units in the area.
As the dedicated Police Liaison Officer for both Kingsley Green and Albany Lodge, both of which oversee formal and informal patients with mental health difficulties, Fiona carries out frequent in-person visits to build rapport with staff members and patients.
In addition to this, she is actively involved in any investigations that are recorded there as well as managing investigations in both her wards, London Colney and Colney Heath.
In her role as a Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) PC, Fiona has been pro-active in organising local plain clothes operations to tackle shoplifting at Colney Fields Shopping Park and has arranged meetings with the businesses there to provide target-hardening advice and to give guidance on improving crime recording practices.
She has carried out a number of vehicle operations, involving targeting those speeding and exceeding the weight restrictions in Colney Health.
Response Officer of the Year
PC Esa Kar from the Hatfield Intervention Team.
In the last year alone, Esa saved a man’s life following a road traffic collision. He bravely entered a damaged and smoking vehicle and opened the airway of the unconscious driver. Esa’s efforts led to him being presented with a Royal Humane Society Award.
In July this year, he received further recognition as a local finalist for the NPCC Response Officer of the Year award.
He has also supported police colleagues in London through mutual aid during a period of intense protest activity and was first through the door to detain a violent suspect who had threatened his colleague with a weapon.
On another occasion, he tended to a critically ill stab victim and completed ‘golden hour’ enquiries to ensure that justice was served.
Esa routinely goes above and beyond to support and inspire others through his role as the national lead for the Hertfordshire Black and Asian Police Association, acting as a trailblazer for those who aspire to a career in policing.
Special Constabulary Officer of the Year
Special Constable Andrew Harley based in Hemel Hempstead.
Joining the constabulary in November 2016, Special Constable Andrew Harley quickly gained the confidence of his regular and Special Constabulary colleagues for his intelligent approach to policing and his calm and considered demeanour.
He is an exceptionally high performing Special, who spends the majority of his time with Intervention in Dacorum. His volunteer hours average around 80 hours every month since joining, which is testament to his commitment to policing.
Andrew was the recipient of a Royal Humane Society Award in 2020 for saving the life of an unresponsive female. Aware that the woman was inside a locked property, he used his skills to gain entry, and, along with two of his regular colleagues, performed live-saving CPR.
Leadership Excellence of the Year
Sergeant James Wingate from the Hatfield Intervention Team.
As an Intervention Sergeant, James Wingate has shown "remarkable leadership and vision".
He is well respected by his peers and those on his team, as well as the wider Welwyn Hatfield-based teams.
James is not afraid to have difficult conversations to raise performance and standards. He leads by example and sets clear expectations, is a sound decision-maker and remains calm under pressure.
Joining Intervention from a specialist team, James has shared his knowledge from that role to upskill officers and has a natural ability to identify and nurture talent, pushing colleagues to reach their professional goals.
James also recognises the importance of the Special Constabulary and has engaged with volunteer officers and delivered training to them. They now work alongside the Intervention team, allowing them to also further develop their policing skills.
Excellence in Prevention First
PC Matthew Henry-Randell from the Cheshunt Intervention Team.
PC Matthew Henry-Randell is recognised for his "great enthusiasm and tenacity" in finding a preventative approach to identifying cars being used in the supply of drugs.
Matt, who was working as a Scorpion officer within Broxbourne at the time, identified gaps in intelligence for vehicles that were not registered to an individual, such as hire cars.
If an individual known to be involved in the supply of drugs was in a hire or newly purchased vehicle, they would not be proactively stopped, due to a lack of intelligence. This allowed drug suppliers to continue to offend.
Matt took ownership of this issue and devised a process to overcome it. Within the first 90 days of introducing his new approach, 48 people had been arrested for possession with intent to supply Class A drugs in the county and 19 vehicles were linked to these investigations.
Realising the clear benefits of this initiative, Matt obtained support from the wider constabulary and a three-month trial named Op Despan was launched within the force Central Intelligence Bureau.
The success of Op Despan continues. Of the identified vehicles proactively stopped to date, 81 per cent led to a positive outcome, 44 per cent led to an arrest, and 56 per cent were indeed linked to drugs.
Team of the Year
Hostage and Crisis Negotiator Cadre.
The negotiator cadre are a team of officers from across the force who specialise in hostage and crisis negotiation. This role is voluntary and in addition to their normal policing duties.
The team is 24-strong with three of them always available to call on at any time of the day or night, 365 days of the year. They provide specialist support to incidents where individuals are in crisis, someone has been the victim of kidnap, to assist in the execution of firearms warrants or any other crime that requires negotiation skills.
In the last financial year, the team were called out 96 times to a variety of jobs. Of these 41 were to people in their homes and 20 were to individuals in crisis on bridges.
They aren’t run by a unit or department. The team is all led, organised and actioned by those who make up the cadre.
At the end of this year, two of the force’s longest serving negotiators will retire — Inspector Pete Edwards, who has been a negotiator for almost 19 years, and T/Chief Inspector Richard Lilley, who has racked up 15 years.
Unsung Hero Award
The constabulary’s team of personal assistants
Not all heroes wear capes and working doggedly across the constabulary is a cohort of professionals whose dedication and eye for detail helps keep the corporate machine rolling every day.
But like many unsung heroes their contribution can be over-looked or taken for granted because individuals in this team tend to get on with the job in hand with very little fuss.
Masters of the art of diary management and graduates from the university of seamless planning, the force’s PAs do a sterling job and are worthy recipients of the Chief’s Unsung Hero Award.
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