Deputy Chief Constable presents medals to RMP
Tuesday, 02 December, 2008
Picture by Coporal Rupert Frere RLC, © MOD
Essex Deputy Chief Constable Andy Bliss has presented medals to Royal Military Police (RMP) officers on their return from Afghanistan.
The 50 Colchester-based officers were being honoured for their work during their six-month deployment. Mr Bliss joined Colonel Ian Prosser, the Deputy Provost Marshal, in presenting the soldiers from 156 Provost Company RMP with their Operational Service Medals at
Goojerat Barracks, Colchester Garrison.
When back in Colchester, the RMP officers share the Garrison police station with officers from both Essex Police and the Ministry of Defence Police and they have built up a close relationship with their Essex Police counterparts.
Addressing the troops, Mr Bliss said, "It is an immense privilege to represent Essex
Police here today and say a massive thank you and express our great admiration to
you for all you've been doing. "I say this as deputy chief constable of Essex but also I sit nationally on the police committee that deals with the threat of terrorism in the UK and on SOCA, the Serious Organised Crime Agency.
"The work that you have been doing out in Afghanistan is massively poignant for me as a UK cop, because what you have been doing is impacting directly on the UK in terms of terrorism and the drug trade and I say a massive thank you to you."
Family and friends were invited to watch the medal presentation, as were the Deputy Lieutenant of Essex Dennis Rensch - a retired chief inspector from Essex Police - and approximately 25 members of the Royal Military Police Association Colchester and East Anglia Branch.
