West Midlands Police Federation Bravery Awards: Hometown heroics see Fed member win for Walsall

3 January 2025

Receiving a West Midlands Police Federation Bravery Award has stirred up a strong sense of local pride for one officer after she was recognised for her courage single-handedly disarming a high-risk person of a knife.

PC Rachel French has been confirmed as the Bravery Award winner for the Walsall area following the actions she took to pursue and apprehend a man wielding a bladed weapon in her hometown of Bloxwich earlier this year.

This title will see her go on to the second-ever West Midlands Police Federation Bravery Awards ceremony, where she will go up against victors from six other geographical areas – Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Wolverhampton – to be named as overall regional winner.

Back in April, Rachel attended an incident involving a taxi driver who had been on the receiving end of threats from a hostile man holding a knife.

Walsall winner PC Rachel French.

The arrest of an initial suspect had meant much of the police presence at the scene had departed, leaving the 32-year-old and a student colleague to take further details from the victim.

But when the taxi driver pointed out another man still at large, unequivocally believing him to be the offender in question, Rachel immediately gave chase for the individual on her own.

“Before the threat incident, he [offender] had been on something of a rampage, causing criminal damage to cars and buildings while clearly having a knife in his possession. I believe the taxi driver had tried to calm him down and convince him to let go of his weapon – obviously, that didn’t go down too well,” she said.

Aggressive

“In the middle of my conversation with him, the taxi driver suddenly spotted the man from a distance and was absolutely certain it was the person in question.

“So, I just started running after him, not wanting to lose eyes on him for a second. No one was running with me, but I knew he was still a potential risk to other members of the public with his aggressive and erratic behaviour.

“He needed stopping, so that’s all that went through my mind.”

Federation member Rachel then tracked down the offender over a three-minute period, sprinting across busy roads and through side streets before eventually achieving a distance close enough to physically secure him.

Withstanding verbal intimidation from the man while detaining him for another minute, she communicated his arrest before police back-up arrived to help bring the situation under full control.

Knife

Following this, the Force’s attention turned to the recovery of the knife, which was found at a point along the route of the chase and as such, was suspected to have been abandoned by the offender as pressure mounted from Rachel’s advances.

Reflecting on the turn of events, she added: “To be honest, it was pure instinct just to set off running and try and get a hold of him – I couldn’t say to the victim, ‘hold on a minute while I get more officers to come with me’.

“I didn’t want to let him [victim] down, nor the public.

“I am born and raised in Bloxwich, so I have real knowledge of the town and I want to make sure everyone here stays safe.

“You just want to protect what you know and your local people, really – that’s what motivates me to do the job I do and push myself in circumstances like this one.”

Rachel, who was previously a police community support officer before becoming a constable three years ago, went on to describe her excitement at winning the local Bravery Award for Walsall, sponsored by Thomson Financial Solutions Ltd.

Ceremony

She says she will attend the regional ceremony – overall sponsors of which are Slater and Gordon lawyers – in Birmingham on Thursday 30 January, with her partner, Nathan.

“I think I’m still in shock at winning for Walsall and being in with a chance of winning for the whole of the West Midlands. You just never really expect this sort of recognition for simply doing your job.

“Something like this definitely reminds you why you’re in your specific role, too – not that the choice is always yours, but I would always pick response policing every time.

“I love not knowing what each day will entail, where all of sudden, you are required to spring into action. And to be able to hold that responsibility for Bloxwich is something very meaningful for me, so it’s nice to get a thank-you for the commitment I will always give,” she ended.