Every year WMP receive thousands of calls from or about people experiencing a mental health crisis.
These calls are deeply upsetting for our officers and staff because police see first-hand their trauma and the pain people go through.
On Tuesday (17 May) officers awarded five police officers who were nominated by their colleagues for going above and beyond in two separate cases.
PCs Shannon Nethercott and Cristin Mathew were presented with Chief Constable’s Commendations for the bravery and care they showed to a man who was self-harming.
They were called to a flat in Walsall on 10 June last year. They found an injured man and worked quickly to stop further injures and to give first aid.
Two months later on 23 August 2021, PCs Terry Dryhurst, Dominic Hegarty and Irfan Shafiq responded to a call that a man was about to harm himself in a wood in Ridgehill Woods, Wordsley.
They knew they had to act fast so they searched and searched the woods by torchlight.
They didn’t give up until they found the man and brought him to a waiting ambulance.
For their compassion and determination to save them man, all three were presented with Royal Humane Society certificate of commendations by Chief Constable Sir David Thompson.
The Royal Humane Society is a charity that gives awards for acts of bravery in the saving of human life and also for the restoration of life by resuscitation. The society’s president is Princess Alexandra.
Certificates of commendation are presented to people who have made a significant contribution to the saving or attempted saving of a life, though their own life was not necessarily at risk.