Policing Insight is delighted to publish the fourth set of finalists in the inaugural World Class Policing Awards sponsored by Accenture.
This week the outstanding array of nominations feature Operation Dowl which foiled an ISIS-inspired plot to assassinate the UK Prime Minister, Operation Encompass which ensures all agencies are aware of children exposed to domestic abuse and a major investigation involving the analysis of 1.4 million lines of data from 87 different phones that resulted in significant convictions.
World Class Policing received well over 100 entries which have been rigorously judged against specific criteria by an expert panel consisting of senior police stakeholders.
Six winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony 14 November in central London. One of the six winners will also scoop the overall prize.
The awards are listed alphabetically.
Operation Dowl – The disruption of the ISIS-inspired plot to kill the UK Prime Minister
ISIS sympathiser Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman planned to attack Downing Street, and had the pedigree to kill following a drone strike on his uncle in Syria. When Rahman unknowingly met with an undercover officer, his plans were evidentially captured. He was allowed to conduct hostile reconnaissance, and collect two inert IEDs, before being arrested. Key evidence from the Met Police, MI5 and FBI was presented during the trial, which led to Rahman being jailed for life.
Lead force: Metropolitan Police Service
Partners: FBI, MI5, Crown Prosecution Service
Operation Encompass
Operation Encompass is partnership working at its most effective, allowing police and schools to ensure that children exposed to, or affected by domestic abuse receive the earliest possible support. By sharing information that ensures a school knows about a child who may need support following an incident, Operation Encompass is now a recognised good practice model. In just 190 school days during 2018-2019, across 17 police forces that have adopted the operation, more than 46,500 children were supported.
Lead force: Devon and Cornwall Police
Partners: Operation Encompass charity
Operation ITALICI – The world’s largest steroid distribution investigation
This UK investigation into a steroid distribution network run by Danish citizen Jacob Sporon-Fiedler was on a truly global scale. The National Crime Agency identified UK importations totalling almost 42 tonnes of illegal steroids, although the gang were probably responsible for far more, having set up Europe’s largest purpose-built steroid laboratory. The NCA liaised with over 30 international agencies from 26 countries, leading to trials that saw Sporon-Fiedler and four others jailed.
Lead force: National Crime Agency
Partners: Crown Prosecution Service
Operation Key
Operation Key was a proactive covert operation conducted by the ERSOU, targeting an Albanian crime group trafficking people into the UK to be exploited in cannabis production and the sex industry. Following months of observation and investigation, four Vietnamese men were rescued as they were being smuggled into the UK. Seven offenders were arrested and eventually given lengthy jail sentences, and the UK, Vietnamese and French arms of this organised crime group were completely dismantled.
Lead force: Bedfordshire Police Eastern Region Specialist Operations Unit (ERSOU)
Partners: Kent Police, UK Border Force, National Crime Agency
Operation Limelight and the US/UK Proclamation of Inter-agency Support for FGM investigations
Operation Limelight is a multi-agency safeguarding operation at the UK border, focusing on harmful practices such as FGM and forced marriage. Delivered by the police and UK Border Force and supported by a range of third-sector, social care and health organisations, it raises awareness of harmful practices, identifies vulnerability and possible perpetrators, and safeguards those at risk. Limelight has now been adopted in America, leading to a far-reaching agreement between US and UK law enforcement.
Lead force: Metropolitan Police Service
Partners: UK Border Force, Homeland Security Investigations, FBI
Operation Moonshot – Disrupting criminals and protecting communities
Operation Moonshot employs tactics that combine innovative use of intelligence, specialist training, and technology such as mobile working and ANPR, to achieve instant results. Following a small-scale pilot in 2016, this policing model is now embedded as business as usual with three dedicated Moonshot Teams (three sergeants and 25 PCs). So far there have been 1,084 arrests, 1,179 vehicles seized, 827 intelligence submissions and 1,450 traffic offence reports; over £1m of stolen property was recovered within six months.
Lead force: Norfolk Constabulary
Operation Saracen
Operation Saracen was a very complex investigation that involved many suspects and huge amounts of data (1.4 million lines of data analysed from 87 different phones). Effective use of technology and the latest investigation techniques resulted in an organised crime gang being brought to justice. Eventually, 15 defendants pleaded guilty to all charges, resulting in 96 years total jail time for the gang, and 17kg of Class A drugs removed from the streets.
Lead force: East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU)
Operation Stalker – Dubai Police
Operation Stalker was the largest anti-drug operation in the UAE’s history, leading to the capture of two international drug smuggling gangs and revealing their method of smuggling drugs via the spare parts of cars. During the operation, Dubai Police drug enforcement officers seized 365kgs of heroin, crystal meth, and hashish, with a market value of US$80 million, the largest ever haul in the UAE; 16 international drugs dealers from Pakistan and Afghanistan were arrested.
Lead force: Dubai Police Anti-Narcotic Department
Partners: Dubai Public Prosecution
Outstanding contribution to the development and promotion of analytical work
Dario Galasso continues to make an outstanding contribution to the development and promotion of analytical work. His achievements lie not only in the creation of practical tools for analysts, which have attracted the attention of agencies across the UK intelligence community, but also in the sharing and briefing of these tools to the wider assessment community. His robust work has influenced decision makers shaping police responses to the terrorist threat, and inspired analysts across the country.
Lead force: Thames Valley Police
The World Class Policing Awards celebrate and acknowledge the best in all aspects of 21st century policing. The awards reflect that effective modern day policing requires partnership and collaboration, whether in teams of officers and staff; collaboration between forces; multi-agency operations; wider public sector involvement; and collaboration also with the supplier community and beyond.
The awards also recognise that successful outcomes and developments in policing come from a blend of innovative, committed and well trained personnel, serving, engaging and protecting the public, delivering good practice, using technology and systems to police efficiently and effectively.
This year’s awards are supported by National Police Chiefs Council, Police Superintendents’ Association, the Police Federation of England and Wales, the College of Policing, Police ICT and techUK.
The Founder sponsors for the World Class Policing Awards 2019 are Accenture, Sopra Steria, Chorus Intelligence, Grant Thornton and KPMG. Policing Insight (policinginsight.com) and Police Oracle (www.policeoracle.com) are the official Media Partners for the World Class Policing Awards 2019.
Entry for next year’s World Class Policing Awards 2020 will open in the new year.
Read about the other finalists here:
World Class Policing Awards: Final nine finalists announced!
This week, once again, the fantastic nominees cover the gamut of policing from the huge, coordinated response to the poisonings in Salisbury to an integrated anti-stalking unit and the use of video-game technology to create virtual police training scenarios.
World Class Policing Awards: Week five finalists announced!
This week, the brilliant nominees include an operation that has led to the arrest of thousands of drug dealers, a first aid programme for frontline officers that has already saved 15 lives and a telematics fleet system that ensures optimal use of vehicles.
World Class Policing Awards: Nine more outstanding finalists published
This week, our outstanding nominations include a mobile technology project that has freed up over half a million officer hours a year and an intelligence officer whose work targeting online child abuse has led to 270 arrests.
World Class Policing Awards: More details of the outstanding finalists published!
This week, the outstanding nominations include a police cadet scheme for adults with learning difficulties, a new mobile fingerprint reader, a drink awareness project in Australia and many more.
The final countdown: A focus on the finalists for the World Class Policing Awards
From missing people to reducing offending to fulfilling potential in the work place and fast-tracking detectives – Policing Insight is delighted to publish a series of six weekly articles highlighting the 54 finalists for the inaugural World Class Policing Awards. We present the first nine in alphabetical order.
World Class Policing Awards: Shortlisted nominations announced
Following rigorous judging of over 100 UK and overseas entries to the inaugural World Class Policing Awards, the shortlist of nominations has now been finalised! See if your force has made the final cut.
World Class Police Awards Judging Process
Nominations were submitted to an online portal by police forces themselves or by third parties. All nominations were required to have a ‘lead police force’ and be endorsed by the chief constable of that force. The judging panel then reviewed the submissions and scored the nominations out of ten with marks awarded for fulfilling the World Class Policing characteristics and for overall quality of the submission.
The shortlisted nominations all go forward to be represented at the awards ceremony and to be put forward for consideration by the judges when they select the overall winners.
The World Class Policing Awards judging panel
The World Class Policing Awards judging panel is comprised of experienced and expert representatives from across policing in the UK and overseas. They include:
- John Apter, Chair of the Police Federation for England & Wales
- Superintendent Danny Hatfield, Chief of Staff at Police Scotland
- Chief Superintendent Ian Wylie, Police Superintendents’ Association
- Rachel Tuffin, Director of Knowledge and Innovation at the College of Policing
- Ian Bell, CEO Police ICT Company
- Mark Evans OBE, Deputy Chief Executive: Service Delivery at New Zealand Police
- Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, Metropolitan Police Service
- John Azah, Kingston Race and Equality Council
- Ben Bradford, Institute for Global Cities at UCL
- Rick Muir, Director of the Police Foundation
- Allan Fairley, Chair of techUK’s Justice & Emergency Services Committee
- Stephen Kavanagh QPM, former Chief Constable of Essex Police and Chair of the World Class Policing Steering Group
Nomination categories
The nominations could represent one or more categories across the range of policing activity:
- Victim support including improvements in identification of vulnerability
- New system/technology implementation
- Outstanding or complex investigations
- Operations delivering difference
- Projects driving change
- Crime prevention reducing harm in communities (real or virtual)
- Business change to tackle new and emerging offences
- Training and development in a changing world
- Employee and officer welfare building sustainable policing
The overall winners will be selected regardless of category but special commendations by category will be awarded where appropriate.
Characteristics of a successful World Class Policing Awards nomination
As well as explaining and evidencing why they represented examples of World Class Policing, the nominations also had to demonstrate and evidence some or all of the characteristics of World Class Policing:
- Did the activity demonstrate exceptional performance?
– Efficiency
– Effectiveness
– Improving police legitimacy
– Value for money
– Successful outcomes set out and achieved - Did the activity demonstrate progressive policing?
– Innovative strategy/tactics
– A new system or technology developed
– A new technique or practice
– The activity and benefit can replicated by other organisations
– Complexities that were overcome - Was the activity collaborative?
– A team effort or an effort across multiple teams
– Collaboration with another police force/agency
– Local collaboration with other agencies
– National collaboration with other agencies
– International collaboration with other forces/agencies
– Industry, academic or 3rd sector collaboration
– How were strategic hurdles overcome?
– Free up resource or demand reduction on non-police matters - Did the outcomes benefit the public/victims?
– Crime prevention/reduction
– Minimise risk or harm
– Victim/witness welfare
– Public engagement
– Free up resource or demand reduction
– Positive handling of diverse and vulnerable groups (young people, women, mentally infirm, BAME, LBGT+ etc) - Does the activity take into account officer/staff welfare?
– Improved working conditions
– Improved welfare or support
– Improved skills through training and development
– Improved job satisfaction
– Improved inclusion or reduction of stigma
– Positive handling of diverse and vulnerable officers and staff (women, mentally infirm, BAME, LBGT+ etc) - Does the activity benefit how suspects and offenders are handled for better outcomes?
– Early intervention
– Rehabilitation
– Restorative justice
– Reduce re-offending
– Positive handling of diverse and vulnerable suspects and offenders (young people, women, mentally infirm, BAME, LBGT+ etc)
The judges awarded points for these characteristics and for the overall quality of the submission, producing an overall mark out of ten. Those nominations scoring seven or above were selected for the shortlist to be represented and recognised at the awards ceremony.
The six winners including an overall winner will be selected by the judging panel on a further in-person judging day. Further commendations by category will be awarded where appropriate.
