Simon was unable to attend the Chester conference due to family illness. He received his award at a special ceremony in the Mayor’s Parlour, Reading Council Civic Offices on 23/4/19
Simon is a Neighbourhood Officer for Thames Valley Police. He has been the police liaison officer for the Reading Pubwatch Scheme for 10 years.
He was nominated for this award by Inspector Gassan Shaladan, who stated that Simon has been instrumental to the progression of Readings Pubwatch, the strengthening of relationships between the police and licensed premises, and the town’s success in achieving a Commendation in its Purple Flag accreditation.
He specifically praised Simon for his leading role in the implementation of the ‘Hub’, which is a safe space facility, located in the Reading Minster, and his forethought to obtain funding from the Business Improvement District, which provided much needed security cover for people working at the centre.
He also highlighted his work to provide town centre venues with a Friday night intelligence briefing at a local branch of McDonalds. This initiative has seen Pubwatch members benefitting from regular security updates, including offender images together with warning markers.
His nomination was supported by Sally Leonard, the Reading Street Pastor Coordinator, Alexa Volker the BID Operations Coordinator and Inspector Sarah Sanderson, who says his ability to bring everyone together in partnership and his commitment to the role is demonstrated by the success of Reading Pubwatch.
Lastly Rob Kennedy, the Chair of Reading Pubwatch said:
“Simon has been intrinsic to the police support of Pubwatch over a sustained 10-year period. In 2015-16 Reading Pubwatch was at breaking point and we had no manageable controls in the town centre, and I would say it was from this period that Simon really fought hard to getting some of the larger venues and personalities to support the night time economy.
During this period, Simon was key to rebuilding Pubwatch with systems in place which were strongly supported by the police; the town centre Hub initiative; Street Pastors and the electronic messaging system.
As Chair of Reading Pubwatch it is great to have such a forward-thinking police officer on side, with his support for the night time economy and a real pleasure to work with”.
