Cheshire officer wins National Response Officer of the Year Award

Police Constable David Elliott has won the National Police Chiefs' Council's Response Officer of the Year Award for his exemplary work in keeping Cheshire a hostile place for criminals and the investment he has put into his local community in Crewe.

This week, we have been celebrating Response Officer's Week, celebrating the work our Response Officers put into keeping the county and its residents safe.

In addition to celebrating the professionalism and courage of response officers, it is also an opportunity to recognise the challenges they face when policing and consider the future development of a key role that sits at the heart of policing.

As part of the annual celebrations, the National Police Chiefs' Council launched a national competition to find an officer who truly embodies the role of the response officer. The response policing role can be physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding. The calls they receive can range from someone being seriously injured or a person suffering a mental health crisis to dealing with someone in distress or a report of a high-risk missing person.

Here in Cheshire, seven of our response officers were nominated for the national award, with Crewe's Police Constable David Elliott securing the top prize.

Known affectionately around Crewe Local Policing Unit as "Billy",  David was born and raised within a mile of Crewe station and has been a response officer for the entirety of his 18-year career - feeling most at home when policing the streets of Crewe in his Panda, otherwise known as his "mobile office."

Police Constable Elliott knows exactly what it takes to be one step ahead of those looking to evade police attention. An hour early for duty every single shift, he checks the latest intelligence, wanted persons and crime information to create his own daily list of targets. It is this daily routine that shows his dedication and passion to proactivity which is based on creating his own luck.

He is the most experienced response officer on this team and mentors a significant number of students and young service officers, sharing his techniques and processes and is always available for advice and support.

All students are given shifts with David at the start of their response journey and through their probation periods to learn “street skills” and develop their overall approach to response. He is seen as a role model across the wider local policing unit, and whilst his preference is to patrol solo, he also works fantastically as part of a team, whether supporting colleagues at violent incidents or working together to capture key evidence as soon as possible for serious crimes.

Constable Elliott is exceptional at identifying vulnerability and risk, he is passionate about safeguarding the vulnerable and displays this through his compassion shown to victims of crime. He has engaged with numerous victims of domestic abuse who were initially unwilling to engage, showing empathy and building a rapport to encourage them to make disclosures of offences.

He prepares detailed Vulnerable Person Assessments which allow our partner agencies to conduct appropriate risk assessments and obtain a clear insight into incidents that have occurred. He has also been involved in numerous vulnerable children incidents and, as a father himself, he uses those life skills to ensure they are given full support and care.

All of the aforementioned makes Constable Elliott an extremely proactive officer, all of which is a testament to his individual performance figures for 2023-2024 as he has made 161 arrests (68 of which were in relation to domestic abuse), submitted 181 intelligence reports and conducted 76 stop searches.

These performance exceptional results show a real dedication to our force's commitment to making Cheshire a hostile environment for criminals.

Sergeant Matthew Stonier, who nominated David, said:

"First and foremost PC Elliott is an experienced, respected and reliable member of the team whose performance across all areas of response Policing is unrivalled.

"He is the most experienced member of the team and always accepts tasking without complaint and completes them to a high standard every time which is a great example to his less experienced colleagues.

"Throughout the last 12 months, PC Elliott's performance across all aspects of Response Policing has been truly outstanding. Whether it be his near 200 arrests, LPU leading intel submissions, stop searches or detections secured.

"He is widely known for his proactive policing performance but his ability to respond to risk and vulnerability as well as workload management is often underestimated."

Superintendent Claire Jesson, Lead for Response Officers Week, said:

“On behalf of the Constabulary, I would like to congratulate David Elliot, affectionately known as ‘Billy’ by us here in Crewe, on being honoured with such a prestigious award - he thoroughly deserves this national recognition for all that he does to support and promote Cheshire Police in the best light. What made him stand out to the panel is the length of time he has spent on response, whilst still managing exceptional levels of proactivity with his arrests, stop search and intelligence submissions. 

"The standard of the nominations from Cheshire for the 2024 Response Officer of the Year Awards has been outstanding, with all seven of our nominees having excelled over the past year, and were definitely worthy of winning.

"I personally, and the force as a whole, are extremely proud of our Response Officers who represent the Constabulary with such distinction and make a significant contribution to policing and the communities we serve every day.

"Unfortunately, there can only be one winner, but I do not think we could ask for a better officer to be flying the flag for Cheshire than David.”

NPCC lead for Response Policing, Chief Constable Rob Carden added:

“Congratulations to David, he is a very worthy recipient of this award. David has been a response officer for over 18 years and has been responsible for over 1200 arrests since 2010. His undoubted proactivity is matched by his strong desire to help and protect victims of crime.

“Response policing is a challenging role. The reality is that response officers tend to be the youngest in service and the first to respond to danger.  It is great to have an ambassador and role model for response policing with the experience, positivity and professionalism consistently demonstrated by David."

Pictured - David with Chief Constable Rob Carden and Superintendent Claire Jesson, Cheshire Lead for Response Officer Week.