Commendations for Seventeen Northern Constabulary staff in Scotland

SIXTEEN officers and one member of police staff have been commended for their actions in the course of their duty in the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey area. They received certificates of commendation at a special award ceremony on 3 June at Police Head Quarters in Inverness in the presence of invited guests and family members.

Divisional Commander and acting Head of Support Services, Chief Superintendent Andy Cowie said, “These awards are a reflection of the very high quality of people who work within Northern Constabulary and the dedication of those officers who serve our communities. This is an opportunity to recognise a number of those people and thank them.”

Two officers and a member of police staff received Area Commander Commendations and twelve officers received Divisional Commander Commendations for a range of bravery and life-saving actions, including rescuing a person from a house fire, providing life-saving first aid and intervention in an attempted suicide.

Two officers received the highest commendation from the Chief Constable. Constable Iain Blackburn and Constable John Graham (now serving in Stornoway) both received the Chief Constable’s commendation for their bravery and professionalism displayed during a critical incident in October 2008, involving the disarming of a very violent individual who was intent on commiting murder.

Chief Constable Ian Latimer praised their actions: “These two officers have shown exceptional bravery, dedication and professionalism. By exercising sound judgement they took action without regard for their own safety and disarmed a violent and dangerous individual who had already stabbed another person. Through their excellent work, a very serious situation was successfully resolved and they undoubtedly prevented a murder.”

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