Melton’s ‘real life super hero’ officer wins top police award

Pc Davey Rawlings is a familiar face around town while out on the beat but much of his service to the community takes place away from the public gaze.

The 34-year-old has played a pivotal role in thwarting drug dealers in Melton and identifying the rise of county lines crime and cuckooing - where a vulnerable person’s home is established as a drug dealing base.

Fellow officers have dubbed Davey ‘the great protector’ for his efforts in supporting, protecting and safeguarding vulnerable people, suspects and work colleagues, alike.

And, in recognition of his service, he has now been named as Leicestershire Police’s ‘Dedicated Neighbourhood Officer of the Year’ at a ceremony conducted virtually by seniors officers, due to Covid restrictions.

His wife and two young sons - we have agreed not to name them because of the sensitivity of his work - are understandably proud of his achievements.

Davey told the Melton Times: “I’m thrilled to have won this award to show my sons.

“They think I’m a real life super hero for protecting our community.

“The boys always ask for police daddy stories at night time.

“I often have to make some of them up about running after people, chasing criminals and all that sort of stuff.”

Davey is in his ninth year serving with Leicestershire Police after starting out as a Special constable a couple of years before that.

He began his career working in schools mentoring youngsters who had been exposed to crime.

That made him want to pursue a role that prevented the crime from happening instead of hearing the impact it was making on their lives.

He clearly enjoys his work but the last year has been unique, he says, with the challenges of policing during the coronavirus pandemic.

Officers have been charged with ensuring residents remain socially distanced and stay at home, on top of their normal busy duties.

“It’s been quite challenging,” said Davey.

“We’ve had to attend every Covid breach that’s been reported and it’s certainly strange going to addresses wearing face masks and PPE stuff.

“It’s been difficult. We’ve had occasions where people have said they’ve got Covid. I’ve not been spat at but I know within Leicestershire there have been incidents of that.

“It’s frustrating. You are dealing with people day in and day out who continually breach Covid.”

Priorities for town centre officers are dealing with an ever present drugs problem and incidents of anti-social behaviour.

Thefts of, and from, vehicles are another local issue and there has been a rise in crimes of courier fraud, where offenders call at the front door of a vulnerable person, usually the elderly, and pose as someone they aren’t in an attempt to con them out of money.

“A lot of my work involves safeguarding duties which don’t make the headlines,” explained Davey.

“We do a lot of stuff behind the scenes which nobody really sees.

“It’s a lot of identifying individuals that are at risk, such as the county lines cuckooing victims, liaising with council, social services and multi-agencies and just trying to reduce the risk for that person.

“It’s all about making it hard for drug dealers to set up in the town and not making it an inviting place for them to stay.

“It’s an ongoing thing. Where there are drug users there will always be drug dealers and I’m not anticipating us being able to eradicate drugs from Melton but it will be nice to take a big chunk out of the activity.”

Officers in the Melton and Rutland Neighbourhood Policing Area are always grateful for tip-offs from the public to enable them to make arrests and take serious and regular offenders off the streets.

Davey said: “We rely on intelligence from the community.

“If people know they’ve got drug dealers two doors down, for example, they need to let us know.

“They will say ‘I’m not a grass’ but they are actually making their community better by telling us.

“We are also keen for people to sign up for the local Neighbourhood Link service so they can let us know the issues which concern them.”

Meanwhile there remains a surreal feel to policing the streets of Melton, now that there are no people drinking late in the pubs or visitng takeaways after an evening out.

“It’s really strange on a Friday and Saturday night at the moment,” added Davey.

“But on the back of that it’s allowed us to put out more officers doing proactive stuff on a Friday and Saturday night.

“The night time economy will come back again, Tubes will be up and running and I’m sure we will once again have the usual sorts of fights and squabbles that we normally have in the town centre late at night.”

He is pleased to have seen a bumping up of police officers across the Leicestershire force in the last two years and feels it is making a difference on the streets.

“I’ve seen in the past six months how well policing is working in Melton with more officers in the area,” added Davey.

“It’s fantastic, the amount of young officers we’ve got at the station now allows them to go out to certain areas to do stop searches and other proactive duties.”

Davey’s award was one of 21 handed out at the virtual ceremony to inspirational individuals and teams from across the force.

Chief Constable Simon Cole QPM, who opened and co-presented the event, said: “Covid-19 brought us one of the largest challenges but we have carried on doing what we do and making a difference to more than one million people.

“We do that because we work with all of the winners from these awards alongside the rest of our colleagues who produce fantastic work all year round.

“I’d also like to thank all of our partners and sponsors for their continued support.”

Deputy Chief Constable Rob Nixon QPM, who co-presented, added: “It’s been an extremely unusual year with lots of tests that have been thrown at us but despite them all, I personally have seen an amazing amount of team work.

“We continue to be proactive and deliver a first rate service to the communities of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.”

Lord Willy Bach, Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire, said: “Everyone has said this year has been far from easy and that’s a definite understatement.

“It’s been extraordinary difficult for all of us who live in this area.

“I’m extremely proud of being Police and Crime Commissioner for a police force that is among the very best in the country.”