Two of our three nominees for the Police Bravery Awards 2021 have given their views on their nominations, the awards and a chance in a lifetime visit to 10 Downing Street.
PC Daniel Woodmansey has admitted feeling “surprised and very humbled” to be shortlisted and described his trip to Downing Street as “surreal”.
The Staffordshire officer was shortlisted for an award along with Force colleagues PC Paul Waterhouse and PC Joanne Willis after the trio disarmed a 25-stone man who was threatening to harm himself with a knife and then pulled him out of a burning house.
Daniel, Paul and Joanne travelled down to London for last Thursday’s awards ceremony which was also attended by policing minister Kit Malthouse, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick.
Earlier in the day, they attended a Downing Street reception hosted by Home Secretary Priti Patel.
He said: “I surprised and very humbled to be nominated. To get some recognition in the way of a commendation for the incident was more than I think any of us expected anyway so to be nominated for a national award and the chance to go to London was really special.
“Being inside 10 Downing Street was very surreal! But it was a privilege to get the chance to have access to somewhere like that so it is definitely something to remember.”
Daniel did not get a chance to speak to the Home Secretary or policing minister during his visit to Number 10 but spotted both chatting with other guests before Priti Patel gave a short speech.
He said: “The evening of the awards ceremony was definitely the highlight. It was such an amazing do and I was blown away by some of the stories we heard on the night.
“But overall it was a really enjoyable few days with a great bunch of people.
“I was completely in awe of some of the experiences that were retold - some really harrowing stories - and I felt a huge amount of respect for the officers who were able to share their stories and how they had been affected.”
Paul Waterhouse has described how the extraordinary tales of courage highlighted at the ceremony made him proud to be a serving PC.
He admitted being taken by surprise by his nomination for the award but described the experience of attending the event with his daughter Lottie as “unforgettable”.
Paul said: “I’ve been involved in policing for a long time and I’m coming to the end of my career.
“I’ve been involved in hundreds of unsavoury incidents in that time, the majority of which go unnoticed and unrecognised, so to get the phone call to say that Staffordshire Police Federation had chosen us to represent the Force at the national Police Bravery Awards was an absolute honour. To say I was shocked and stunned is an understatement.
“The entire experience of attending Downing Street with my daughter Lottie will be an experience that we will talk about for the rest of our days, although we did not get to speak to the Home Secretary which was a shame.
“The evening event, which was in the famous Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, was an awe inspiring experience being surrounded by exceptional people and each regional winner was fully deserving of their award.
“Listening to some of the stories and first hand experiences made you proud to be a serving officer and we had the added experience of having the guest speaker Mark Durden-Smith and TV racing presenter Tom Gaymor sitting at our table.
“I’d like to dedicate my award nomination to every serving officer within Staffordshire Police, all of whom go about their daily duties never knowing what they are about to walk into next.”
The national Police Bravery Awards honour officers from across England and Wales who have performed outstanding acts of bravery while on or off duty.
Four West Yorkshire Police officers who detained two attackers who murdered a man with a samurai sword were named overall winners at the awards ceremony.
