2023 BRAVERY NOMINATIONS scene on a bicycle.


PC Griffin apprehended the suspect and detained him until on-duty officers arrived on the scene. While waiting for their arrival, a crowd gathered and began questioning PC Griffin’s behaviour towards a minor, because they did not realise he was an off-duty officer. He instructed his son to call 999 and directed his son’s friend


to retrieve his warrant card and show it to those gathering, who had started to film the event. PC Griffin explained the suspect was suspected of


committing a robbery, had been armed with a knife moments earlier, and was being detained for arrest, once other officers arrived on the scene. PC Griffin demonstrated great calmness in not escalating the situation as a concerned and, at times, hostile group of people gathered.


He identified, apprehended and detained a suspect who was,


despite his young age, apparently armed and had allegedly committed a knife-point mugging in broad daylight on the streets of Bromley.


NORTHAMPTONSHIRE A PC risked his life to rescue a distressed girl and assist two members of the public at Nene Wetlands.


On 16 June 2022, the police received a call that a girl had become lost while walking with her mother. As the incident developed, it was further reported that two members of the public heard the girl’s calls for help from the water, which borders the popular shopping park, Rushden Lakes, inside the wetlands. Despite the risks, the two members of the public had entered the water and were wading to locate the lost girl. There were now three people at risk in the water, with one of the friends of the rescuers speculating to the police that they might be dead. A team of officers, including the PC, attended the scene


and were given standard instructions not to enter the water, owing to the risks. They were advised to wait for the arrival of specialist 999 services However, the PC, who wishes to remain anonymous, decided to take action and wade into the water after conducting a risk assessment based on the immediate danger faced by the three people. Swimming over as quickly as possible, he was soon able to


determine they were located on a firm but remote bank. He remained there to reassure them, while other officers crawled through the undergrowth from the other side to rescue them from land. Undoubtedly, the PC and the two members of the public took a life-threatening risk to protect a girl in distress.


NORTHUMBRIA


A pair of police officers were mauled by a suspect’s dog in a relentless attack. PCs Joshua Williams and Emma


Gray were responding to a report of a domestic incident in Blyth last January in the early hours.


Upon arrival, Sean Bell called upon his large Staffordshire bull terrier, ordering it to “get them”. The dog ferociously attacked PC Gray and PC Williams, causing multiple puncture


PC Patel


wounds and lacerations. The 37-year-old rained down punches on the officers as they tried to place him in handcuffs, all while continuing to encourage his dog to attack them. Maintaining their hold on the assailant, the officers made efforts to fend off the attack by kicking the dog away, but the attack was relentless. Despite the significant injuries they continued to receive, the officers persevered and eventually managed to arrest Bell with help from backup, while the dog was detained by members of the force’s dog unit.


PCs Williams and Gray attended the hospital and were required to have tetanus shots.


PC Gray was prescribed morphine for her injuries and has lasting nerve damage as a result of the ordeal. Both officers continue to be supported, owing to the traumatic nature of the attack.


NORTH WALES


An off-duty officer has been hailed a Happy Valley hero after tackling a knife-wielding man in a supermarket. The store manager called PC Catherine Parry, who has been in the force for 20 years. She is known as “the real Cathy from Happy Valley” – after the lead character from the iconic BBC television series – for displaying outstanding courage in protecting shoppers and subduing the offender. PC Parry was shopping in Oswestry Sainsbury’s in the neighbouring West Mercia force area when the man entered the supermarket with a knife. He was experiencing a mental health crisis.


She had just paid for her shopping and was waiting for her mother-in-law when the incident unfolded. The initial sign that something was happening was a visibly shaken female cashier. PC Parry then she saw the man aggressively waving a large knife and shouting that he was going to kill people. Identifying herself as a police officer, she told him to put the knife down. But the man continued to scream and went behind the cigarette counter, where he repeatedly stabbed the till so hard that the blade broke.


She kept the man inside the supermarket until West Mercia


Police officers arrived to support her and tackle the man to the ground, by which time the store had been evacuated.


NORTH YORKSHIRE A pair of compassionate officers helped bring a vulnerable woman safely down from a railway bridge. Police received a report of a distressed female on the wrong side of a railway bridge in Harrogate. PCSO Nichola Shearing recognised the location and was in proximity, so she attended the incident, owing to the threat to human life.


39| POLICE | JUNE 2023


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