The Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) were the proud winners of the Counter Terror Policing Award at the annual Security and Counter Terror Exhibition at Olympia on Tuesday (6/3).
The annual exhibition incorporates the Counter Terror Awards, where public and private sector organisations from across the UK and internationally are recognised in 10 categories for their contributions to reducing the threat from global terrorism.
The CNC were nominated in the Counter Terror Policing Award, which recognises the efforts of the police sector in combatting domestic terrorism through prevention strategies and operational excellence. The nominees in the category were:
- The CNC, for the planning, exercising and testing that led to two very successful live deployments under Operation Temperer in 2017
- National CT Policing, for the ‘Action Counters Terrorism’ campaign designed to encourage the public to play a part in helping tackle the terrorist threat
- City of London Police, as the first force to launch Project Servator
- Bedfordshire Police, for their introduction of an app entitled ‘Cross the Line’ which is designed to deter young people from committing hate crime
In the face of strong competition from the other nominees, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary were announced the winner by the guest of honour, Sir Michael Fallon, who recognised in his speech the ongoing threat from terrorism in the UK and the challenges that have been faced in responding to and defeating planned attacks.
Supt Graham Bell, Head of Operational Support and Development, and Eugene Johnson, the Resilience and Business Continuity Manager, accepted the award on the behalf of the CNC.
Chief Constable Mike Griffiths said: “It was an honour for the CNC to receive this national award and is recognition of the hard work, dedication and commitment of all our officers and staff. They went above and beyond to deploy over 800 officers across two deployments to 23 different Home Office force areas in a matter of hours. At the same time, military personnel were received onto the civil nuclear sites we police to support remaining officers in maintaining the safety and security of the sites.
“Our Authorised Firearms Officers provided armed support to these forces and reassurance to the public after the tragic Manchester Arena attack in May and the Parsons Green incident in September.
“This huge deployment of our officers wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work and planning which went into the Operation Temperer plan and the close working relationship we have with our stakeholders and I am very proud that the work of my officers and staff has been recognised with this national award.”
Supt Bell said: “It was a privilege for Eugene and I to collect the award, which reflects the enormous amount of hard work that went on in the planning stages, and the commitment of everybody who was involved – either through deploying to forces or working with the military when they came to our sites.
“This national recognition, against strong competition, came as a very welcome surprise and is a huge recognition of the CNC. We have now set the bar very high, which is why we keep our plans under constant review, as we never know when we may have to instigate them again but I have every confidence that if called to again we will deliver.”
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