Wiltshire Police officers recognised with long service awards

Wiltshire Police held a virtual awards ceremony to recognise the contributions of its officers last month.

Sergeant Amy Hardman, Sergeant Russell Griffin and Detective Zoe Rattue-Spicer received award recognition.

Sergeant Amy Hardman

Sergeant Amy Hardman, staff officer to Assistant Chief Constable Debs Smith, who grew up in Salisbury, joined Wiltshire Police in December 2000 aged 19. After four years in Swindon, Amy worked on the Youth Offending Team in Salisbury.

She later spent time in the intelligence department before being posted to Chippenham Response then worked in intelligence in Salisbury.

Amy returned to Swindon in 2017 on her promotion to sergeant and stayed there until moving to headquarters as Strategic Support Officer to the County Hub Superintendent, and later to the Staff Officer role for the Chief Constable and then to ACC Smith.

Drugs bust

Amy has many career highlights including when she first joined Wiltshire Police and was the youngest person in the force.

Her first ‘big job’ was during her two-week probationer attachment to traffic.

Amy spotted an out-of-date tax disc which led to a vehicle stop which ended up with more than £5k worth of cannabis being seized from the boot.

She says that "coppers" intuition told them something wasn’t quite right with the driver who was behaving in a "furtive" manner.

“The on-call superintendent was adamant that it must have been as a result of being tipped off  - the duty DS took ages to convince him it was just a routine traffic stop. You just never know what this job is going to uncover next," she added.

“I have worked with some amazing people during my career - people who support each other like a family would at some of the most challenging of times. 

“I wouldn’t have joined the police though if it wasn’t for my role model at home, so I should mention my dad here really - Retired PC 724 Scott Freeman, thank you!" 

Sergeant Russell Griffin

Sergeant Russell Griffin, Staff Officer to the Chief Constable joined Wiltshire Police in December 2000 and has been an operational police officer for almost all his 21 years of service.

Following his probationary period at Salisbury, Russell was posted to Tisbury as a rural beat officer. After a period of time in Tisbury, Russell returned to Salisbury to join a newly formed Community Tasking Team, a team responding to community issues and focusing on prolific and high threat offenders.

Russell was given a response team at Salisbury to lead as the Acting Sergeant. In 2010, as a newly promoted Sergeant, he was posted to Warminster, leading a team of officers within response and community policing.

Russell then completed three years as a custody officer at both Melksham and Swindon custody units before returning to the south of the county and leading a response team at Amesbury and Salisbury.

In 2018 Russell was attached to the Salisbury Poisonings operations as the briefing sergeant with responsibility for 80 mutual aid officers from across the country who were assisting with cordons and the investigation.

In June this year he led a team of officers at the G7 Summit in Cornwall.

Russell is currently in the role as the Chief Constable’s staff officer.

He said: “I am incredibly proud to be a Wiltshire Police officer and look forward to the coming years within the force.”

Detective Zoe Rattue-Spicer

Detective Constable Zoe Rattue-Spicer initially served 18 months with Wiltshire Police as a special constable before becoming a regular police officer in January 2001 based in Salisbury.

During her probationary period Zoe worked in the city centre as part of a uniformed patrol targeting shoplifters.

In 2008, Zoe spent time with the Domestic Violence Unit,working mainly with victims of abuse and supporting them to move away from their abusive relationship and in 2010 she completed an attachment with Child Protection.

In 2011 back with the Salisbury Response Team, Zoe dealt with a wide range of incidents from herding cattle in the dark back to their field across a main road, dealing with a large group of drunk men after kicking out time to talking to a victim of a serious sexual assault.

In 2012, she joined the Tasking Team targeting prolific offenders, in particular, those involved with drug dealing. And in 2014 she return to working in child protection and later became a detective. Her current role is with MOSOVO (management of sexual or violent offenders).

Zoe said: “I have enjoyed all of my time so far and feel that I am suited to my current role as after several years I am still thoroughly enjoying my work and don’t feel the need to move on yet. The only thing I do miss is response driving when I was a uniformed officer. This was a highlight for me.”

Praise from Chief Constable

Chief Constable Kier Pritchard said: “Having the opportunity to say thank you and to recognise the achievements of officers and staff is one of my favourite parts of my job.

"Policing is a vocation, a service people join to make a difference and to protect people. The last 18 months have tested everyone’s strength in all walks of life. Our public have seen from our officers the courage, the heart and the resilience required to continue to serve.”

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