Police Federation

Awards will highlight good work of detectives

Fri, 24 Aug 2018

PFNDF Chair Martin Plummer

Investigative policing involves innovation, tenacity, determination and going the extra mile for victims – qualities so many of our detectives have in spades.

The annual Police Federation National Detectives’ Forum (PFNDF) seminar is taking place in Manchester on 11-12 October, covering topics including cybercrime, assisted suicide and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Once again there will be a glittering awards ceremony to highlight outstanding accomplishments by individual detectives and teams across England and Wales, providing the recognition they richly deserve.

The aim of the seminar and the awards is to value the work of detectives, share best practice and boost morale. They are about celebrating all that is good in policing.

Speaking about this year’s award nominees, PFNDF Chair Martin Plummer says: “The standard this year has been incredibly high and shows what we know to be true – that we have the best police service in the world. Our officers investigate some of the worst crimes, deal with the worst offenders and bring them to justice through professionalism, integrity and attention to detail.

"Nobody does this type of work looking for kudos, but it’s appropriate that we give them the recognition they deserve. I feel privileged and humbled to be on the judging panel, though it will be incredibly difficult to narrow the entries down to a handful of winners."

The categories this year are: Smarter Detective, New Trainee, Detective Investigation of the Year and Services to Detectives, as well as regional Recognition Awards for those who make outstanding contributions to detective policing, often behind the scenes.

This year’s entries include: a DC from Cleveland who investigated sexual offences on young children – overcoming difficulties with victims and witnesses during the two year case to obtain the evidence required to prosecute; a successful operation by the Metropolitan Police to track down and arrest members of a gang who carried out 27 gas attacks and burglaries against cash machines, and an officer from Suffolk who painstakingly trawled through hours and hours of CCTV to identify three offenders who left their victim at the bottom of stairs, bloodied, unconscious and suffering amnesia following a brutal attack.

Last year’s Detective Investigation of the Year winners will be speaking at the seminar. They are a team of Thames Valley detectives who smashed an organised crime group which specialised in fraudulent trading and money laundering. They had amassed around £1billion in profits from mass corruption, blackmail and fraud, with many of their victims being small businesses across the UK where victims lost their livelihoods and homes.

The team interviewed 424 people, gathered over 1,000 statements and more than 3,000 exhibits. Their expertise and resilience was tested further with the added complication of linking money and suspects across the UK, Europe and America.  But their hard work and tenacity paid off, with six out of the seven defendants being found guilty and receiving sentences totalling 96 years.

More on this year’s seminar and awards, including how to register to attend.