Policeman's work recognised

8:48am Tuesday 19th August 2008

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A police constable from Swindon has been nominated for a top award to celebrate his achievements in the field of tackling drugs.

Nigel Lord of Wiltshire Police has been nominated for one of the Home Office's Tackling Drugs Changing Lives Awards, which recognise, reward and celebrate the unsung heroes on the front-line who are working to tackle drugs and change lives every day.

Mr Lord has been nominated for his excellent work as a field intelligence officer.

During the last three years he has been directly responsible for many successful proactive operations, resulting in the arrest of offenders and seizure of drugs with a street value of more than £100,000.

Through his work in apprehending offenders, Mr Lord has helped to reduce the fear of crime and the impact of drug use within communities.

Within the past year, individuals he has targeted have received sentences ranging from four to eight years, which has helped to reduce drugs supply in Swindon.

His manager, Detective Sergeant Mark Smith, said: "Nigel Lord's efforts are continuous and he is prepared to work long and anti-social hours to ensure that the opportunities for gathering intelligence on offenders are maximised.

"Much of this is in his own time and naturally has an impact on his family life.

"He is an example to other officers and is recognised for the tenacious manner in which he targets drug dealers within Swindon."

Drug agency worker Victoria Downes and her team from Wiltshire have been nominated for their achievements with The Step Aside Consultancy, supporting recovering addicts.

Her manager, Thalia Shannon-Eyers, said she deserves the award because "her passion and energy towards her job is legendary.

"Victoria's approachable nature and compassion coupled with her desire to assist addicts towards a better life is phenomenal.

"She thinks nothing of giving up her time to be there for clients and really goes the extra mile, even helping one client defy the medical profession when he had been told that he only had a month to live due to the severity of his addiction.

"A year on and he is clean and sober and is getting his life on track."

The Step Aside Consultancy has also been nominated under the team category by Senior Practice Nurse, Tracey Brignall-Roe.

Talking about why she nominated the team, she said: "They save the lives of those others that would have long since been abandoned and offer immediate care to all.

"The support is not withdrawn until the patient is ready."

There is still time for other organisations and individuals to be nominated for a Tackling Drugs Changing Lives Award.

But the closing date of August 31 is fast approaching, so potential award winners who have not yet applied are being asked to get their nomination forms in quickly.

So far, nominations for teams and individuals from Bristol, Salisbury and Swindon have been received.

They include people working in the health service, drug enforcement activity or professionals who counsel and treat drug users - all are eligible for the award scheme.

The awards were launched by Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker, who said: "I know that drug workers and drug teams across the country are working tirelessly every day to tackle drugs and change lives.

"In fact, I have met many people and teams who deserve to be nominated for these awards.

"These awards recognise their inspirational examples, which will help us to realise our ambition of fewer people starting to use drugs and for our society to be free from the problems caused by illegal substances."

Two awards are available, one for an individual and one for a team, each winner will receive £10,000 for their organisation to spend on the prevention or treatment of drug misuse.

Anyone can nominate a drug worker or drug team whether they are a friend, family members, colleague or service user.

The closing date for nominations is 30 August 2008.

A panel of expert judges, chaired by the Home Office, will choose 10 finalists, one from each of the nine government regions plus Wales.

Two overall winners will then be chosen - an individual drug worker and a drug team.

The winners will be announced towards the end of 2008 at a ceremony in London.