A Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) from the Wiltshire West Community Policing Team that covers Westbury was honoured at last month’s Wiltshire Police Force Awards.
PCSO Andrew MacLachlan received an Excellence in Partnership Working award.
His award citation said, “Andrew trained as a force hate crime advisor in 2012. Since then, alongside his day job, Andrew has provided the best possible support to numerous victims of hate crime and used his vast experience to assist and guide his colleagues and supervisors.
“Over recent years in particular, Andrew has been pivotal in assisting Wiltshire Police in improving the overall response to hate crime. He has expertly delivered training sessions to the organisation, which have initially focused on newly-recruited PCSOs and CCC operators.
“As a result of Andrew’s hard work and dedication, he has assisted Wiltshire Police in expanding its number of hate crime advisors from 13 to 42 located across the county. Further to this, in 2017 Andrew was part of a small team that delivered a hate crime conference and launched a partnership strategy.
“In addition to the support provided as a hate crime advisor, Andrew has also had an active involvement in ‘Prevent’ which has so many cross overs with hate crime. He has demonstrated an ability to improve trust and confidence with groups of various faiths to help improve community confidence and understanding of the programme. He has provided invaluable support to Wiltshire Police, particularly during times of tension spikes such as the 2017 UK terror attacks and assisted with investigations, interventions and giving presentations to key partner agencies.”
About Andrew, a Wiltshire Police spokesperson said, “You consistently go above and beyond in your role. Thank you for dedication and ongoing commitment to putting victims at the heart of everything you do. Your work is the embodiment of the Force values and behaviours and something to be immensely proud of.”
