13 November 2008
Community Support Officer of the Year 2008
The Community Support Officer (CSO) of the Year Award was established last year to recognise the important and evolving contribution that CSOs are making to neighbourhood policing. Nominees are judged on their personal skills and how they add value to policing their communities by listening to, recording and solving community issues. They need to demonstrate excellent working relationships within their communities and show how the force is benefiting from the high quality community intelligence they bring. Each nomination must have evidence of community support for the CSO’s work.
Winner: PCSO Dave Johnson
Force: Lancashire Constabulary
Career highlights: Dave Johnson’s supervisors say he is highly motivated and although he is one of the force’s oldest CSOs, at 54-years-old, he repeatedly proves he is one of the most productive. He has provided activities for youths, such as go-karting and paintballing trips, and started neighbourhood and rural watch schemes in various areas to unite residents.
When he started work in Burnley, Mr Johnson decided to take on a long-standing problem of cars being burned out and dumped in the area – reducing offences by 91 per cent the following year. He also bid for funding from a safer neighbourhood grant scheme for CCTV from a local village, which led to people being prosecuted for vandalism and a reduction in the number of incidents.
What other say: Steve Finnigan, chief constable of Lancashire Constabulary, says: ‘Dave Johnson is the epitome of what a CSO should be – a willing listener, a visible presence, but above all an action-taker.’
Runner-Up - PCSO Kevin Smith, Metropolitan Police
3rd Place - PCSO Elizabeth Smith, Humberside Police
Photos (Click for high resolution version)
PCSO Dave Johnson
PCSO Kevin Smith
PCSO Elizabeth Smith