Calls for new award for fallen officers

4 April 2022

A campaign to create a new posthumous award for emergency service workers who give their lives in the line of duty has won the backing of Hertfordshire Police Federation.

Chair Geoff Bardell said the branch fully supported calls to modernise the existing honours and awards system by making sure it adequately reflected the dedication, commitment and sacrifice of the men and women who died in serving their communities.

The campaign is being led by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), the Police Superintendents’ Association and the Prison Officers’ Association and seeks Home Office approval and cross-party support.

The new award would be similar to the Elizabeth Cross which is awarded to the bereaved relatives of members of the British armed forces killed in action.

Geoff said: “The policing family takes the commemoration of its fallen heroes very seriously and this is something we have always been very passionate about.

“Our members take extraordinary risks to make sure the communities they serve are properly protected and kept safe and sound so it is only right that society recognises and rewards the courage, determination and dedication they show.

“Police officers know the dangers they may face when they take their oath at the beginning of their careers and they never say no when called upon to deal with an emergency or a crisis, whatever the risks may be.

“I think a new medal would be an appropriate way of honouring our fallen colleagues and would also be welcomed by the families of police officers who have suffered such a devastating loss.”

PFEW deputy national secretary John Partington said: “It is only right we should honour fallen colleagues and support bereaved families. Police officers and other emergency service workers willingly run towards danger while others run away.

“The current awards system does not formally recognise emergency service workers who lose their lives while performing their duties, and all too often formal state recognition is not forthcoming.

“The proposed new medal would not just recognise outstanding individual acts of dedication to duty, it would also mean so much to family, friends and colleagues.”

The campaign has also been endorsed by the father of PC Nicola Hughes (23) who was murdered alongside her Greater Manchester Police colleague Fiona Bone in a gun and grenade attack by fugitive Dale Cregan in September 2012.

Bryn Hughes said: “It would mean so much to so many for the Government to officially show formal gratitude to Nicola and others and say ‘thank you’ to those who are killed because they have gone to work wearing a uniform.

“Although it’s now a decade since we lost her, there’s not a day goes by that I don't think of Nicola. Nothing will ever make up for her loss, but this award would bring a large degree of comfort to me and a great many others and is long overdue.”

Bryn played a leading part in the successful campaign to establish the UK Police Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, which commemorates the 5,000 police officers who have died in the line of duty over the years.

He also runs the PC Nicola Hughes Memorial Fund to help children whose parents have been murdered.

Nicola and Fiona were the posthumous recipients of the first ever Women in Policing Award when it was launched by the PFEW in 2015.