Police officers and members of the public from the Isle of Wight were recognised for their excellence at a special awards ceremony in Newport this week, including for the dramatic rescue of a vulnerable man.
On Monday night, Chief Constable Andy Marsh was joined by local police commander Superintendent Sarah Jackson, Lord Lieutenant Major General Martin White and High Sheriff Ron Holland to present the awards to the assembled guests.
These included the presentation of a Royal Humane Society Certificate of Resuscitation to PC Neil Corby.
Neil, together with his colleague PC Kirsty Dunn, made extraordinary efforts to resuscitate an elderly man who suffered a heart attack whilst driving his car from Fishbourne to Wootton in April 2013. Together with his colleagues, PC Corby used a defibrillator and then mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and were able to keep the man alive until paramedics arrived and took over.
Although, sadly, the man died 12 hours later in hospital, it is because of the efforts of PC Corby and the officers attending – together with paramedics *, that his family had the time to gather at his bedside and be with him in the final hours of his life. PC Dunn received her award at an earlier ceremony.
Also recognised for their commitment and excellence was the Crisis Response and Home Treatment team of the Isle of Wight NHS Trust. The team was sited for its pioneering and engaging work on the project, which is aimed at reducing mental health admissions on the Isle of Wight and improving the service to highly vulnerable people.
In nominating the team, Sergeant Paul Jennings said:
“This pioneering team has made a significant contribution to mental health policing, not just here on the island but to the overall UK journey with Street Triage. They were the first team anywhere in the UK to go live with police officers in response cars.
Article continues below this advertisement “Their presence at mental health response incidents has been the main reason why police have reduced their use of Section 136 Mental Health Act orders from around 16 a month to six a month. Their presence at incidents gives police officers the confidence to develop and use ‘positive risk taking’ skills.
“They have provided crucial incident advice in the past two years at some very delicate jobs including suicides and incidents involving highly vulnerable people. When we do get it wrong together, the team remain professional in their feedback and objective in their recommendations and advice. They are a pleasure to work with and a credit to the NHS.”
Two local 14-year-old boys, Reece Hall and Alan Cessford, were given special awards for their intervention which enabled police to find, detain and charge two men with burglary following a raid on a restaurant at Ryde Esplanade.
Back in August, the boys were on Ryde Esplanade with two other friends when they witnessed two men approach The Captain’s Table restaurant. One of the men climbed through a window, before letting the second man in through the fire door. The boys rang the police immediately, describing what they were seeing and directed officers along the Esplanade to find the suspects in possession of stolent cash tins from the restaurant. Both men were subsequently charged with burglary.
The young men are recognised for their quick thinking and civic mindedness in helping police bag two burglars.
WightSAR, the Island’s voluntary search and rescue team, were also recognised on Monday.
Led by its founder Dean Terrett (pictured), the team comprises of 27 volunteers – all of whom make themselves available to assist in searching for vulnerable or missing people no matter what time of the day or night, come rain, shine, hail or snow.
They are a vital part of supporting the police and local authority, and have regularly contributed to the recovery of missing persons, and also missing or stolen property, including £20,000 which was taken from a local business and hidden.
This award is given in recognition of the team’s exemplary commitment and enthusiasm.
In nominating them, Sergeant Gary Hayward said:
“WightSAR provide an invaluable service to visitors and residents on the Isle of Wight, and vital specialist support to police. Their contribution cannot be underestimated.”
Denise Evans, Rebecca Kelly and the trustees of the IW Street and School Pastors scheme were all recognised for their work in schools on the island.
For the past six years the volunteers have patrolled the streets of Ryde, Newport and Ventnor making a significant impact on its night-time economy. They are particularly excellent at looking out for vulnerable people, which helps relieve pressure from police and ambulance staff.
The School Pastors have patrolled in Medina College and are now an important part of the school community. The team as reduced the number of bullying incidents, and they look out for vulnerable students, providing an independent listening ear. This has been acknowledged as making a massive impact on well being of students at the college.
Local officers and staff also received their long service medals at the ceremony.
As part of the Area Commander’s Congratulations, PC Lucinda Critchlow, Temp Sergeant Gary Sargent, PC Paul Fairweather and PC Chris Canavan were all regonised.
PCs Critchlow and Sargent were deployed to Hope Road in Shanklin after a man was spotted hanging off the cliff railings over a vast sheer drop. PC Critchlow and Sargent climbed over barriers to get to the closed cliff path and found the man. He had a belt tied around his neck, which was tied to the fence, and was effectively hanging by his neck over the sheer drop.
PC Sargent climbed over the railings – holding on only by his fingertips – and took hold of the man’s entire weight and with his other free hand, lifted him up, releasing the belt around his neck.
PC Critchlow then grabbed hold of the man’s other arm, leaning over the fence, to try and pull him to safety. Initially, the man was unresponsive and too heavy to lift up.
The officers were joined by PC Canavan and Fairweather. PC Fairweather climed the railings to help PC Sargent, who still had hold of the man’s entire weight with one arm. PC Sargent still managed to push whilst PC Canavan and Crtichlow pulled the man over the railings to safety. The man was found to be conscious and breathing.
The officers put themselves in extreme danger to save the life of a very vulnerable man.
Chief Constable Andy Marsh said:
“It is an absolute honour to be able to present these awards to such deserving people.
“I am immensely proud of the excellent work of my officers and staff, and it is always a tremendous pleasure to recognise the contribution members of our community make to keeping our counties safe and in helping us protect the vulnerable.”
Chief Constable Awards
Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
PC Nigel Gore – Shanklin
Special Constable Long Service Bar
Special Sergeant Michael Sayer – Newport
Police Staff Long Service Certificate
Paul Kermode – Criminal Justice Unit Caseworker
Area Commanders Congratulations
PS Gary Hayward
Sergeant Hayward is recognised for the work he does in his role as Police Search Advisor (POLSA) on the island. Gary leads a Response & Patrol shift as his full time role, and covers POLSA on call out, and also for pre-planned events such as Bestival and royal visits to the island.
Gary very often coordinates searches for high risk missing persons, and recently provided the search advice and co-ordination in the search for Michael Davis over a four week period. Gary did a lot of this work in his own time, and enabled the search dogs, Wight SAR and search teams to work effectively together in an exhaustive search of the area, working with out a break because he knew how important it was that Mr Davis was found.
His excellence in this role is recognised with this award.
(Editor’s Note: Mr Davis’ body was found around half a mile from where he went missing over a month later. It is currently unknown how long he was in situ for, however he was discovered after members of the public reported a smell)
West Wight Rural Neighbourhood Team
The team, led by PS Mark Lyth, received this award in recognition of their excellent work on a number of issues including the policing of the Yarmouth Gaffers event and in reducing rural crime across the West Wight.
