This Award is in recognition of his and his Teams incredible achievements on this Ward over the past couple of years, I reprint the original nomination as sent to the Bromley Safer Awards Adjudicators.
"When Dave took over Plaistow & Sundridge SNT in 2009, he was like a breath of fresh air, the Team had not had a Permanent appointment for some years previously, due to internal issues within the Local Police Establishment.
The Plaistow & Sundridge Ward is a particularly diverse Ward, bordering Lewisham and the Town Centre, enclosing a “rat run” between the two, included in the ward are part of the Downham Estate, with its own special challenges, and the very different problems of Sundridge Park and Bromley North Village.
Even though Safer Neighbourhood Policing is a new departure for him, he has rapidly assessed the requirements and rearranged rotas and routines, instilling organization, motivation, enthusiasm and loyalty in the Team, resulting in a highly effective delivery of Policing in the Ward.
This impressive record is demonstrated through Intelligence gathering, improved community engagement, particularly from the higher visibility of Team members, and much resolution of long standing problems within the ward.
Dave’s relationship with the Panel has always been courteous and he instills, through his attention to detail, credibility and with the reasoned answers, and the pre-prepared and issued update, he provides at the meetings, a great respect in us all. He has never tried to interfere in the workings of the Panel, instead showing that he wants to work with us.
During the time he has been in charge the Team have been involved in many operations and have also a very good record in the resolution and reduction of local ward ASB, drugs, burglary, motor vehicle crimes. The Team have also initiated innovations such as stopping speeding motorists in company with pupils from a local primary school. He has forged very close and successful relationships with our local Primary schools, and particularly the Riverside Housing Darwin House Complex and Affinity Sutton, resulting in much improved crime and safety statistics from those areas. He has also a close relationship with Residents Associations, particularly the 600 property Links Estate, which has enabled him to issue safety advice to the residents and run targeted operations.
I am informed that his Team is the most proactive within the Borough consistently topping the monthly lists for Arrests, Stops and searches, Warrants executed. 4 months ago they arrested 3 Burglars in a very short space of time and subsequently all these cases have since been successfully prosecuted. This week the PCs are conducting a speed gun operation with the help of colleagues from Bickley SNT and Bromley Town SNT. They will be looking for further criminal offences during this operation. I could give many more examples of how our Team is making our Ward Safer for the residents and businesses alike.
His inspiration has led to 2 of his PCSO’s being accepted for PC training, though this potential loss of experience could have led to a drop in performance levels, Dave has continued to keep the Team motivated and focused.
With the reductions in Police personnel Dave has been given the additional role of running Bickley SNT in parallel with Plaistow & Sundridge. This he has done with great enthusiasm but somehow without losing his effective influence with his original Team.
If this is not enough, Dave as a Level 2 trained Officer was deployed on the occasion of the student riots and during August this year, However, as you would expect by now, his Team continued to perform both on the ward and wherever they were deployed elsewhere on the borough.
We are very proud to have Dave as our SNT Sergeant and feel that he deserves the highest recognition for his unstinting efforts.
I am certain that he will be very humble and will want to share any award that he may get with his Teams."
Congratulations are definitely in order to Dave and his Team, so when you see them Sergeant, PC's or PCSO's out and about give them your best wishes, they are out there for us.
