Essex Police wins national award
Wednesday, 23 September, 2009
Against strong competition from police forces across the UK, Essex Police's APEX (the ambition for policing in Essex) initiative has won an ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) Excellence in Policing Award.
The force's innovative and cost-effective approach to policing was one of four projects short-listed for presentation at the ACPO Excellence in Policing Awards ceremony in Coventry on Tuesday, September 22.
The awards conference was attended by policing professionals, including delegates from the Home Office, ACPO and the NPIA (National Policing Improvement Agency).
APEX programme manager Superintendent Alison Newcomb said: "Winning an ACPO Excellence in Policing Award for 2009 is wonderful recognition for our ground-breaking initiative to find massive savings in the force's budget and reinvest them in front-line policing."
Operation APEX was launched in September 2008 and aims to find £27million through recurrent savings over the next three to five years and put an extra 600 officers back on the streets of Essex during that time.
In the first year, 239 additional officers have already been recruited to the force.
Supt Newcomb said: "With ambitious targets and a difficult economic climate, many would have considered this project almost impossible. It just shows what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it.
"I am very proud of what we have achieved. At the very core of Operation APEX are values which I think every force should adopt."
