13 November 2008
Community Police Officer of the Year 2008
The Community Support Officer (CSO) of the Year Award was established last year to recognise the important and evolving contribution that CSOs are making to neighbourhood policing. Nominees are judged on their personal skills and how they add value to policing their communities by listening to, recording and solving community issues. They need to demonstrate excellent working relationships within their communities and show how the force is benefiting from the high quality community intelligence they bring. Each nomination must have evidence of community support for the CSO’s work.
Winner: Insp Noel Rogan
Force: Police Service of Northern Ireland
Career Highlights: When Insp Noel Rogan asked to be transferred to his hometown of Larne almost a decade ago, it was suffering from major sectarian problems.
Insp Rogan embarked on a long period of mediation and building trust and relationships between Loyalists and nationalists. He is contactable 24/7 and the force says he regularly works off duty to attend meetings and respond to the community.
He set up a 'good relations forum', which gets people from different backgrounds round a table to talk about ways to prevent hate crime and community tension. The force says this initiative has stopped tensions in the town from spiralling out of control. Sectarianism in Larne is now at an all-time low and relationships between Loyalists and nationalist groups have never been better, the force says.
What others say: A spokesman for the force says: 'Insp Rogan challenged policing from within. No other police officer was able to walk the streets and engage with people the way he did.'
Runner-Up - PC Adrian Braniff, Cumbria Constabulary
3rd Place - PC Ian Rowley, Greater Manchester Police
Photos (Click for high resolution version)
Insp Noel Rogan
PC Adrian Braniff
PC Ian Rowley