Basingstoke ObserverBASINGSTOKE officers received a trio of awards at a recent county wide awards ceremony.
Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones has recognised and thanked over twenty volunteers, staff and partners from across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight at her first awards event attended by over 200 people.
Basingstoke PC Ollie Lindridge won Police Recruit of the Year Award, Neighbourhood Watch Volunteer of the Year Award was given to Christine Rayner and Basingstoke High Harm Team took the Violence Reduction Award home on the night.
The Police and Crime Commissioner Awards 2022 recognised the outstanding contribution that volunteers, dedicated staff and partners have made to policing, the criminal justice system and the local community.
Volunteers and staff from across the public, private and voluntary sector came together at a special ceremony in Winchester on Friday 29 April to receive their awards and celebrate the difference they have made to help the lives of others and make communities safer.
A statement on Police Recruit of the Year Award PC Ollie Lindridge read: “Ollie has a positive attitude, even through some very long shifts and complicated jobs, and is already an integral part of the team. It has been noted that since independence, Ollie is always keen to offer to help others, even with jobs he did not attend, sometimes staying later just to help those officers out when he knows that they will be several hours late.
Whilst Ollie has performed well at many incidents he has attended, the most notable incident was a road traffic collision, where the elderly male driver of a vehicle suffered a medical episode and crashed. Ollie, along with a more experienced crewmate, was first on scene. Ollie immediately assessed that the man was not conscious or breathing and started CPR, freeing up his colleague to provide updates, all whilst being watched by the man’s wife who was understandably very upset. This incident happened within the first couple of sets of independence, showing that early on Ollie was able to deal with serious situations with an ability beyond his level of experience. Unfortunately the man did not survive; however, Ollie provided him with the best possible chance for survival. Basingstoke B shift is the second least experienced R&P team in the county, and although Ollie is just over a year in, he is treated and relied upon like an officer much longer in service.”
A statement was also released to acknowledge Neighbourhood Watch Volunteer of the Year Award Christine Rayner: “Chris is the Lead NHW Area Co-ordinator for the Berg district of South Ham in Basingstoke. The previous scheme covering 600 properties, mainly inhabited by retirees, had effectively ceased to function and needed reactivating. Such was the concern of several residents that Chris, with help from others of like mind, set up a small committee of local residents to achieve just that.
They visited every home and set up a NHW Facebook Group for those who were able to use it. Email or hand drops continue to keep residents without Facebook fully informed on crime. This was achieved despite complying rigidly with the COVID restrictions. Safe face-to-face contacts are made as her committee meet residents and take up their concerns, such as getting a hedge cut hard back to improve driver vision on a busy junction.
This has managed to persuade Hampshire Highways to periodically monitor serious traffic speeding through the Estate, which has four schools in the immediate area. She was involved in reporting a Drug operation where drugs were being sold on the Estate; this was quickly investigated and closed down by the police. She has established strong relationships with the PCSO, CSPO’s and District and Borough Councillors.
Having set up a well-run extensive scheme for the Berg she is leading our efforts to set up NHW schemes to cover the rest of South Ham district, which involves 3,900 properties.
Chris opened discussions with the District Councillors, who are now offering to help her. Initially this will involve some 405 homes starting in April when there is more daylight and it is safer to visit all the houses.
Chris recently became a valued member of the Basingstoke & Deane NHW Committee and contributes only positive and relative input - a great asset.”
Tribute was also paid to Basingstoke High Harm Team on winning the Violence Reduction Award: “The Basingstoke District Police High Harm and Drug Related Harm Teams, supported by their key partners, have contributed significantly to the largest fall in knife enabled offences in Hampshire. This amounts to a fall of a third of all offences linked to the use of a knife and resulting in serious injuries since 2019 and a fall in personal robbery offences.
The High Harm Team, working closely with the Child Services Department and the Youth Offending Team, targeted an urban street gang responsible for a series of knife enabled assaults and robberies in Basingstoke using the county’s first Gang Injunction. The gang were likely to kill another child and the threat was deemed to be extremely high. Ten children and five adults were the subject of the Injunction, which not only provided additional enforcement powers to the police, but allowed partners to focus support that assisted in rehabilitating many of the gang’s members.
Following a knife enabled murder in 2019, the Drug Related Harm Team, with their partners in the Quarterly Fortress Panel, have disrupted all County Lines Networks within Basingstoke through targeted operational activity. The Drug Related Harm Team have radically improved safeguarding measures within Basingstoke, referring vulnerable people for additional support. The confidence and trust in the Drug Related Harm Team has allowed them to quickly reduce key threats, such as identifying the source of a ‘bad batch’ of heroin from Reading and saving lives as a result.
Both Teams and their partners have demonstrated exceptional levels of commitment and determination in preventing the serious damage caused by knife enabled offences in Basingstoke.”
Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones said, “Volunteers, partners and dedicated staff make a huge and significant difference to policing and in helping to make communities safer. I launched my Police and Crime Commissioner Awards to recognise the enormous contribution they all make, and to say thank you.
I was thrilled so many winners, nominees and partners were able to join me on the evening and I was delighted that the two previous Police and Crime Commissioners, Simon Hayes and Michael Lane joined me to present two awards named after them to recognise their legacy as Commissioners. I would also like to thank our partners, the Cyber Hub Trust and Amazon Web Services for sponsoring and supporting the event.
Congratulations to all of the very worthy winners and a very big thank you for all that you do to help Hampshire and the Isle of Wight be safer places to live, work and visit. You really do make a difference.”
The Commissioner was joined by a number of guests who also presented awards, including: Mrs Amelia Ashton JP, Deputy Lieutenant for Hampshire; Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney; Flick Drummond MP; Bob Seely MP and Attorney General for England and Wales Suella Braverman QC MP who also delivered the keynote speech.
