Meet the tireless response officer named among Lancashire’s best

A ‘tireless’ police officer described as extremely dedicated and an absolute asset has been named among Lancashire’s best.

PC Hannah Speakman was shortlisted for Lancashire Police’s Response Officer of the Year Award after impressing with her tireless work ethic and relationship building. She was named as the nominee for South Division – which includes Preston, Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancs.

The award was set up as a way to highlight the vital role that Response Officers – who tend to be the youngest in the service – play in protecting the public and keeping communities safe. 

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PC Speakman’s nomination stated: “Hannah has proven herself to be an extremely dedicated officer who puts victims first and does what she can to support the most vulnerable people in our community.

“Hannah works tirelessly to ensure positive action is taken against offenders, and this is seen in the number of positive outcomes she achieves. Her commitment and dedication is commendable.

“Despite being a busy response investigations officer, she goes the extra mile to ensure that her investigations are complete to an exceptionally high standard.

“The rapport she builds with her victims, gaining their trust and the time and effort she puts in to complete her investigations is what makes Hannah an absolute asset to the communities in Lancashire and Lancashire Constabulary. Well Done Hannah!”

Other nominees for the award were PC Alison Clarkson from West Division and PC Rowan Nelson from East Division, with the latter named as winner.

Assistant Chief Constable Karen Edwards (pictured with PC Nelson and the other shortlisted nominees) said: “Our Response Officers play such a crucial role – they are at the forefront of delivering our force priorities of preventing and fighting crime and keeping our communities and people safe.

“On a daily basis I am made aware of positive examples of the professionalism, commitment and courage demonstrated by our Response Officers.

“Over the past 12 months we have made significant changes to our operating model. These changes have had a really positive impact on the service we are delivering for victims and communities across Lancashire.

“Lancashire Response teams are now offering a far better quality of service to our victims and our communities. Our responding time of answering calls of service to our victims has reduced, our positive outcomes for victims have increased, and the targeting of those who blight our communities through criminality has improved.

“I want to thank all my Officers working on Response and the Response Investigation Teams, who continue to make a real difference to our victims and communities across Lancashire.

“We have outstanding Response Officers across the force, and so it was no surprise that the standard of the nominees for our 2024 Response Officer of the Year were so high. My congratulations go to the worthy winner of the award, PC Rowan Nelson.”

ACC Edwards met with the three officers this week, when she congratulated them on their professionalism and quality of service. As our Response Officer of the Year, PC Nelson has been put forward for the national Response Officer of the Year Award.

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