DEDICATION in helping others has seen two district residents recognised in this year’s Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Award for Excellence in Policing and Community Safety.
Ann Johnson, who until recently led the Stratford Link project for rough sleepers, and Christopher Langman, who volunteers at Henley Library offering people help and advice on how to stay safe online, were both highly commended in the awards.
Ann was recognised for her dedication in helping people who often lead complex and chaotic lives, with individual health needs and sometimes challenging behaviour.
Christopher was also nominated for a second time for his work developing a set of easy read guides for Warwickshire Police, Stratford District Council and other partners, to help people with learning difficulties understand how to access services and stay safe.
PC Stephen Croshaw was this year’s winner for his ‘outstanding work’ with young people and police partner organisations in creating educational videos highlighting a range of important issues.
Completely in his own time, PC Croshaw has produced numerous short videos of topics from serious and organised crime to health and wellbeing, hate crime, child sexual exploitation, domestic abuse and volunteering.
His projects have included working with a local 16-year-old anti-hate rap artist and creating a YouTube video to highlight the threat of county lines drug dealing. The YouTube video even won acclaim from the National Crime Agency.
Several of his videos are now used by Warwickshire Police for training purposes, including one on reducing crime and anti-social behaviour.
Warwickshire crime commissioner Philip Seccombe said: “Engagement and integrated partnership working are vital to increasing visibility in local communities, engaging with the public and putting problem solving at the heart of what Warwickshire Police does.
“To that end, Stephen has excelled in this approach and his dedication and contribution has gone well above and beyond what is expected of his normal day-to-day responsibilities.
“I am particularly taken by the way in which he has involved local young people in the production of many of the videos, helping to ensure that they are tailored in a way which will get their very important messages across in an easy to understand but thought-provoking way.”
The award was first introduced in 2017 to recognise teams or individuals within policing or the wider community who make a real difference to Warwickshire.
