Distinguished rank and file officers recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours list

A group of distinguished rank and file officers from across England and Wales have been recognised in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for their outstanding contribution to policing.

Eighteen officers are recipients of the prestigious Queen’s Police Medal, alongside colleagues from across England and Wales who are being recognised with MBEs, OBEs and CBEs.

Metropolitan Police Constable Michael Wallace co-founded the award winning, national KickOff@3 Youth, Community and Police Engagement football initiative. The aim of the initiative is to change negative narratives around young people and to provide them with opportunities to come together in a safe space with the community and the local police through the medium of sport, music and poetry. He has been awarded a Queen’s Police Medal.

Through PC Wallace’s unwavering commitment and dedication, KickOff@3 has now delivered four hugely successful seasons, starting with the Metropolitan Police in April 2017, where over 600 young people between the ages of 16-19 years old got involved. £600 was raised and donated to the African and Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT). In addition to this, 147 of the young people who attended signed up to the blood stem and bone marrow register.

This is now a common theme for all the finales and has led to a match for one young person who is suffering with leukaemia.

In 2018 and 2019, more forces across the country signed up and expressed an interest to be involved and support this incredible initiative.

PC Wallace is building a legacy of positive change, making time to support others and going the extra mile, above and beyond his day-to-day policing role.

By constantly looking to develop his engagement strategy, his work has resulted in significant benefits for local policing and the Metropolitan Police and the wider national policing family. Through his Kickof@3 initiative, he is not only potentially changing lives, but also potentially saving lives.

PC Matthew Evans of West Midlands Police has been awarded a Queen’s Police Medal for his outstanding commitment to policing and protecting the public from harm.

In 2009, PC Evans identified that gangs were responsible for an increase of 58 per cent in pickpocket and distraction type crimes against elderly, disabled or vulnerable members of the local community.

Acting on his own initiative, he created ‘Operation Share’, a national network of over 300 police officers dedicated to identifying offenders by sharing information on transient pickpocket gangs who try to avoid detection by touring the country’s shopping centre.

As a result, crime rates for these types of offences dropped by 42 per cent  between 2011-19. This also meant an estimated saving of over £11 million to the criminal justice system and community.

On 12 October 2019, whilst off duty, PC Evans witnessed a violent, armed offender stab a member of the public in the heart whilst on the grounds of Royal London Hospital.

Despite having no protective equipment or help, he intervened and put himself between the attacker and the victim, thus preventing the attack continuing and worsening.

When the offender ran, and as the victim received urgent first aid from others, he chased the offender down a busy high street and brought him to the ground.

The victim received emergency heart surgery at the scene and miraculously survived thanks to the officer’s courageous actions.

Detective Superintendent Vicky Washington was the 2021 winner of the British Association of Women Police Lifetime Achievement award. Det Supt Washington of the Metropolitan Police has been an impassioned advocate highlighting violence against women and girls for 30 years, also breaking barriers for women in policing.

In 1994 she was the first woman to complete the Public Order Medics’ course and joined the Territorial Support Group (TSG) where she trained in surveillance. In 1998 she completed an MSc in Policing Studies, whilst pregnant with her first child; her dissertation focused on extra-familial grooming.

In 2011, as lead for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), she pioneered work to stop girls being taken out of the UK through Heathrow Airport. In a UK first, she secured agreement from nine airlines to take action to identify girls vulnerable to FGM. This legacy is now embedded within the MOPAC annual plan.

As Domestic Abuse lead, Det Supt Washington implemented the MARAC improvement group, redesigned referral forms to focus on victims and obtained sponsorship from John Lewis to refurbish interview suites. Her work has increased domestic abuse referrals by 134 per cent.

In 2018 she was selected as Deputy National Co-ordinator for Prevent where she has ensured Vulnerability to Radicalisation was adopted as a Strand of Public Protection nationally.

Det Supt Washington continues to encourage and support others, despite now being in her last year of service. Her legacy is one of tireless service, inspirational and trailblazing policing as a female role model, and championing under-represented groups both internally and externally to fulfil their potential. Whilst not of Federated rank, the work undertaken over the last 30 years by Det Supt Washington has had an incredible impact on the careers of many of our members.

Welcoming the announcement, Steve Hartshorn, National Chair of the Police Federation of England, said: “It is humbling to see the number of police officers and police staff awarded such prestigious recognition for their contribution to policing. To be recognised with an honour from Her Majesty the Queen is an enormous privilege. I therefore want to congratulate all of those individuals who received an award for their extraordinary achievements.”

Queen’s Police Medal

Antony Ashton, Sergeant, West Midlands Police
Rachel Alison Barber, Deputy Chief Constable, Nottinghamshire Police
Sarah Jane Crew, Chief Constable, Avon and Somerset Police
Matthew Howard Evans, Constable, West Midlands Police
Karen Marie Geddes, lately Superintendent, West Midlands Police
Timothy James Gray, lately Detective Superintendent, Metropolitan Police Service
Catherine Hankinson, Assistant Chief Constable, West Yorkshire Police
William Alexander Jephson, Deputy Chief Constable, Hertfordshire Constabulary
Pamela Charlotte Kelly, Chief Constable, Gwent Police
Glen Mayhew, Assistant Chief Constable, Devon and Cornwall Police
James McAllister, Constable, Metropolitan Police Service
Ian McDonald, Constable, Northamptonshire Police
Timothy James Needham, Superintendent, Civil Nuclear Constabulary
Simon Samuel Nelson, Superintendent, Sussex Police
Michael Anthony Wallace, Constable, Metropolitan Police Service
Victoria Rose Washington, lately Detective Superintendent, Metropolitan Police Service
Clifton John Williams, lately Detective Chief Inspector, Merseyside Police
Lisa Jayne Winward, Chief Constable, North Yorkshire Police

Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Chief Constable Simon Bailey QPM, DL Lately Chief Constable, Norfolk Constabulary

Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Simon Paul Chesterman QPM, Chief Constable and Chief Executive Officer, Civil Nuclear Constabulary

John George Marnock, Police Staff and Chair, National Surveillance User Group, Thames Valley Police

Andrew Rhodes QPM, Lately Chief Constable, Lancashire Constabulary

Linda Jayne Waters, Assistant Chief Officer and Director of Finance Thames Valley Police

Members of the Order of the British Empire

Barry Adam Boffy, Head of Inclusion and Diversity, British Transport Police

Melissa Dark, Casualty Bureau Manager and Disaster Victim Identification Coordinator, City of London Police

Marcia-Yvette Hinkson-Gittins, Police Staff, South Wales Police

Keith Jarrett, Police Staff, British Transport Police

Timothy Mann, National Volunteer Police Cadets Coordinator

Medallists of the Order of the British Empire

Paula Cooper, Police Constable, Volunteer Police Cadets Coordinator, Metropolitan Police Service.

Sudath Leon Dias, Special Superintendent, Essex Police

Mark Fenton Fletcher, Detective Sergeant, Online Abuse Investigator, Cheshire Constabulary

Jonathan Neil Gray, Special Constable, Northumbria Police

Susan Hill, Training Unit Manager, Metropolitan Police Service

Varsha Kumari Mistry, Forensic Practitioner, Metropolitan Police Service

Sharron Moverley-Holmes, Special Chief Officer, North Yorkshire Police Special Constabulary

Michael Scott, Special Constable, Northumbria Police