Officers from Cumbria Police’s Neighbourhood Policing Teams have been recognised for their hard work within our communities at the neighbourhood policing awards.

The awards were presented during Cumbria Constabulary’s Neighbourhood Policing Conference which was held on November 23rd.

Eight awards were presented to officers and PCSOs by Assistant Chief Constable Dave Stalker and Deputy and Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Mike Johnson, in recognition of their contribution towards neighbourhood policing over the past year.

Chief Superintendent’s Neighbourhood Policing Leadership Award

Inspector Richard Smillie, Copeland Neighbourhood Policing Team has been recognised for his leadership of the Copeland Neighbourhood Policing Team. Richard has been recognised for continuously leading by example . His attention to detail and commitment has resulted in his teams performing to a consistently high standard.

Richard has been described as a role model, not only for his team but his colleagues, he is always willing to help and do that bit extra. He is an inspiration to his team making them feel valued, enabling them to deliver an excellent service to the communities in Copeland.

Inspector Mike Taylor, Carlisle Neighbourhood Policing Team, has also been recognised for his invaluable contribution to the development of neighbourhood policing in Cumbria.

Mike played a key role in re-modelling our neighbourhood teams following recommendations made by HMICFRS and has led on changes to PCSO powers.

Neighbourhood policing within the county has gone from strength to strength in the past 12 months which is in no small part down to Mike’s hard work, commitment, and dedication.

Police Community Support Officers of the Year 2023

Workington Police Community Support Officer Luke King has been awarded Cumberland PCSO of the year for his outstanding contribution to Neighbourhood Policing. Luke joined Workington NPT in February 2023 and has excelled in his role by working closely with partners to tackle crime and ASB in his patch on Workington North.

Luke’s partnership working with Castles and Coasts housing resulted in successfully obtaining the 2 years selective letting policy for Northside, which is a first ever for local focus hubs.

Luke received high praise from councillors, MPs and the Chief Constable for his work.

Penrith Police Community Support Officer Danielle Ousby has been recognised for her work in the community in Penrith. Danielle knows her area and residents well and in Spring 2023 when residents raised concerns about drug dealing in her area, Danielle promptly acted on this arranging a StreetSafe operation and submitting the further intelligence gained.

This award recognises the work that Danielle does in her community to engage with vulnerable people, work with schools and prevent people from becoming victims of crime.

She has also helped gain funding from CADAS to carry out county-wide work with young people struggling with vaping addiction.

Neighbourhood Police Officers of the Year 2023   

Allerdale Police Constable Sam Steele has also been recognised for his dedication to tackling anti-social behaviour in Maryport. Over the past 12 months Sam has made a huge impact by reducing ASB by 47%.

He has started to bring those responsible for causing ASB on litter picks, washing fire engines, making sure they pay something back to the community. This has gone down really well in Maryport and if you ask anyone, they all know PC Sam!

Barrow Police Constable Liam Oliver has been awarded for his work with a difficult ASB issues on his patch. With over 43 crimes reported and weekly, even daily calls for service, Liam was tasked with reviewing the issues and supporting the victim.

He positively engaged not only with the victim, but all the residents in the area and carried out a StreetSafe with partners. He was able to reassure residents and support them utilising our partner agencies.

Neighbourhood Policing Team Innovation Award 2023

The Eden Neighbourhood Policing team received this award following their response to youth anti-social behaviour in Penrith Town.

Research and analysis identified four young people were responsible for a large portion of all ASB in the town.

To tackle the issues the team considered various means of addressing this to meet the challenges presented. The team worked tirelessly to provide comprehensive timelines of events to ensure the preparing of legal paperwork was undertaken.

The four youths were issued with Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions at court. This had an immediate impact on offending and calls for service.

Neighbourhood Policing Individual Innovation Award 2022      

Police Community Support Officer Pete Nichol from Workington NPT has been recognised for using his personal experiences to develop community relationships and working closely with the Allerdale and Copeland Autism support, assisting them to become a Disability Hate Crime Reporting Centre.

He has also built relationships with West Cumbria Autism Academy, attending regularly to engage the students, becoming a role model and proving that diagnosis does not have to be a barrier to achievement.

Pete has received lots of positive feedback for his work, parents who thank him for the support and advice, as well as Schools who value his input.

Speaking on the awards Assistant Chief Constable Dave Stalker said “The neighbourhood policing teams are a huge part of day-to-day policing in Cumbria.

“These awards have highlighted just some of the excellent hard work that our teams carry out on a daily basis to address community issues and improve confidence within local communities.

“Congratulations to all those that won awards and thank you to all of our Neighbourhood Policing Team officers and PCSOs across the force for their hard work over the past year”.

Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Peter McCall, said: “Neighbourhood Policing Teams really are the forefront of Cumbria Constabulary and continuously represent the Force in our communities day-to-day.

“They work incredibly hard to boost confidence in the police with residents and provide support when and where they can in communities.

“Awards ceremonies such as this, really are a chance to celebrate the work of the NPTs – they have achieved a great deal over the last year and I know that they will continue to do so in the future.

“Congratulations to all the winners – the awards were very well deserved.”