Police and Crime Commissioners back Elizabeth Medal for police officers and emergency workers

Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales have backed a campaign for emergency workers killed in the line of duty to be posthumously awarded the Elizabeth Medal.

The campaign has been led by Bryn Hughes and Paul Bone, fathers of PC Nicola Hughes and PC Fiona Bone, who were murdered on duty after attending a call out 10 years ago, as well as the Police Federation of England and Wales and the Police Superintendents’ Association. The Elizabeth Medal is currently awarded to members of the armed forces killed in the line of duty. Extending it to emergency workers would be a way of recognising their sacrifice and honouring them. It will also be a fitting legacy to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who is also the Police and Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester, and Baroness Bev Hughes, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire, attended the memorial service for PC Nicola Hughes and PC Fiona Bone last Sunday [18 September 2022], at Hyde Police Station, along Nicola and Fiona’s families and Greater Manchester Police colleagues. As a way of remembering them, they have coordinated a joint letter from PCCs to the new Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, asking her to consider awarding the Elizabeth Medal to emergency workers.

A copy of the letter is below:

Rt Hon Suella Braverman MP
Secretary of State for the Home Department
Home Office
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

20^th September 2022                                                                                 

Dear Home Secretary

ELIZABETH MEDAL

Congratulations on your appointment as Home Secretary. We all look forward to working closely with you.

With that in mind, we write to you as Police and Crime Commissioners from across England and Wales on a cross-party basis with an early request which might capture the spirit of national unity which we have seen since the sad passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

As you will know, last Sunday marked 10 years since PC Nicola Hughes and PC Fiona Bone were murdered whilst attending an emergency call in Tameside, Greater Manchester.

Incidents like this are thankfully rare but are devastating when they do happen. All police forces in England and Wales will have tragic instances of colleagues killed in the course of serving their communities.

Sadly, however, no award exists for their families to recognise their sacrifice.  

Our purpose in writing is to ask you, respectfully, to consider instituting a posthumous award to be granted to the families of police officers and other emergency service workers killed in the line of duty.

We believe that a medal similar to the Elizabeth Cross would ensure that any emergency service worker who dies while carrying out their duties would be honoured and remembered appropriately with the dignity they duly deserve.

We should make clear that the idea of this award has been in development for some time. We initially delayed sending this request due to the changes in the Government and then again following the passing of Her Majesty. We submit it now as it feels an appropriate way of marking both this significant anniversary and the exceptional lifetime of service of Her Late Majesty.

We hope you will look sympathetically at this request.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester
RT Hon Baroness Beverley Hughes, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester
Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London
James Thomson, Chair of the City of London Police Authority Board
Steve Turner, Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland
Peter McCall, Police and Crime Commissioner for Cumbria
David Sidwick, Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset
Chris Nelson, Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire
Jeff Cuthbert, Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent
Donna Jones, Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight
Jonathan Evison, Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside
Matthew Scott, Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent
Andrew Snowden, Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire
Emily Spurrell, Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside
Zoë Metcalfe, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner
Stephen Mold, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire
Kim McGuinness, Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria
Tim Passmore, Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk
Simon Foster, Police and Crime Commissioner for West Midlands
Phillip Wilkinson OBE, Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon
Rupert Matthews, Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland
Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
Alison Lowe OBE, Deputy Mayor of West Yorkshire for Policing and Crime
Andy Dunbobbin, Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales
Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire Police & Crime Commissioner
Dafydd Llywelyn, Police and Crime Commissioner for Dyfed-Powys
Joy Allen, Police & Crime Commissioner for Durham

Article Published: 20/09/2022 16:57 PM